Q 

'.43 


THE 
McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 


OF  THE 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF  SCIENCES 

HELD  AT 

THE  CARNEGIE  INSTITUTION 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

DECEMBER  5,  1913 


BALTIMORE 

WILLIAMS  &  WILKINS  COMPANY 
1916 


GIFT  or 


W  J  McGEE 
APRIL  17,   1853  —  SEPTEMBER  4,  1912 


THE 
McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

OF  THE 

WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF  SCIENCES 

HELD  AT 

THE  CARNEGIE  INSTITUTION 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

DECEMBER  5,  1913 


BALTIMORE 

WILLIAMS  &  WILKINS  COMPANY 
1916 


ACTION  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  MANAGERS 

OF  THE 
WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF  SCIENCES 

AUTHORIZING 
THE  McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

180th  Meeting.  January  11,  1913:  "Mr.  Pinchot  presented  by 
invitation  a  plan  for  a  memorial  meeting  in  commemoration  of  the 
life  and  service  to  science  of  Doctor  W  J  McGee,1  recently  deceased. 
It  was  proposed  to  arrange  for  a  selected  list  of  papers  covering  the 
wide  range  of  Doctor  McGee's  activities,  and  that  the  affiliated  or- 
ganizations of  which  he  was  a  member  be  invited  to  participate. 
After  considerable  discussion,  all  of  which  was  favorable  to  the  plan, 
Doctor  Kober  moved  that  a  special  committee,  of  which  Mr.  Pinchot 
should  be  chairman  and  President  Coville  a  member,  be  appointed 
by  the  President  to  have  charge  of  this  meeting. — Carried." 

The  following  Committee  was  appointed  January  20,  1913: 
Frederick  V.  Coville,  Henry  Gannett,  G.  K.  Gilbert,  F.  W.  Hodge, 

J.  A.  Holmes,  F.  H.  Newell,  Gifford  Pinchot,  Chairman,   Milton 

Whitney. 


1  Dr.  McGee  preferred  to  write  his  name  without  periods. 

3 


o  A  rrn  /I 


THE  McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

OF  THE 

WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF  SCIENCES 

In  opening  the  meeting  Doctor  Coville  said: 

When  death  comes  to  a  man  who  has  rendered  distinguished  serv- 
ice to  humanity,  it  commonly  finds  him  occupying  some  high  office 
and  surrounded  by  the  members  of  his  family.  But  the  end  of 
Doctor  McGee,  according  to  the  will  of  fate,  came  otherwise.  It  is 
peculiarly  incumbent  upon  us,  therefore,  his  friends  and  colleagues, 
to  meet  together  for  the  purpose  of  paying  honor  to  his  memory.  It 
is  true  that  individually  we  shall  honor  him  as  long  as  each  of  us 
shall  live.  But  we  meet  together  at  this  time  in  order  to  give  testi- 
mony publicly  to  the  high  esteem  in  which  we  hold  him.  The  Car- 
negie Institution,  through  its  President,  Doctor  Woodward,  has 
granted  to  the  Washington  Academy  of  Sciences  the  use  of  this  build- 
ing for  this  purpose.  Doctor  Woodward  is  out  of  the  city.  I  regret 
greatly  that  he  could  not  have  been  here  to  himself  open  the  meet- 
ing, and  to  permit  us  to  thank  him  personally. 

Doctor  McGee  was  a  member  of  numerous  associations,  many  of 
which  are  represented  here  tonight  by  members  who  have  been  se- 
lected for  the  purpose.  Many  associations  have  passed  resolutions 
in  commemoration  of  Doctor  McGee.  In  addition  to  the  resolutions, 
many  letters  from  individuals  expressing  appreciation  of  Doctor 
McGee  have  reached  the  Committee. 

The  resolutions  and  letters  which  have  been  received  can  not  be 
read  tonight,  but  will  find  place  in  the  commemorative  volume  which 
will  be  printed  later.  There  is,  however,  one  letter  which  was  re- 
ceived from  one  closely  and  intimately  related  to  Doctor  McGee. 
This  letter  contains  so  much  of  human  interest  that  the  Committee 
has  decided  it  should  be  read  to  you  tonight.  The  letter  came  with 
a  statement  that  it  might  be  edited  to  suit  the  desires  of  the  Com- 
mittee, but  it  is  a  document  of  such  intimate  personal  relationship 

5 


6  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

that  the  Committee  has  decided  to  have  it  read  without  any  emenda- 
tion whatever.  The  letter  is  from  Miss  Emma  R.  McGee,  of  Iowa, 
a  sister  of  Doctor  McGee.1 

Doctor  McGee's  constructive  intellectual  activity  was  exercised  in 
varied  fields  of  science.  From  a  farm  boy  Doctor  McGee  became  a 
blacksmith;  from  a  good  blacksmith  he  became  a  good  geologist.  His 
work  on  the  Atlantic  Coastal  Plain  is  one  of  the  monumental  works  in 
geology;  from  that  he  went  into  anthropology  and  ethnology.  Then 
he  made  an  almost  new  science,  for  he  went  into  the  subject  of  Con- 
servation, and  brought  all  the  energies  and  knowledge  of  a  lifetime 
into  that  work. 

I  am  reminded  at  this  time  of  a  statement  made  by  a  Russian  bota- 
nist nearly  a  century  ago  when  he  had  finished  a  very  remarkable 
and  very  good  piece  of  critical  work: 

Errare  quidem  humanum  est,  sed  discrimen  statuimus  inter  errores  qui 
excusari  possunt,  et  qui  non  possunt.  Solatio  mihi  est  spes,  vos,  benevo- 
los  lectores,  errores  meos  in  iis  numeraturos  esse,  qui  excusari  possint. 

It  is  the  business  of  the  scientist  to  pursue  the  truth.  We  should 
so  live  that  when  we  have  finished  our  course,  we  can  say,  as  Doctor 
McGee  would  have  said:  "To  make  mistakes  is  human,  it  is  true, 
but  there  is  a  difference  between  errors  which  are  excusable  and  those 
which  are  not  excusable.  It  comforts  me,  my  colleagues,  to  have  the 
hope  that  you  will  place  my  mistakes  among  those  you  gladly  forgive." 

In  my  own  department  of  research,  the  vegetable  world,  Doctor 
McGee's  work  was  of  limited  extent.  Yet  I  always  found  his  advice 
helpful,  constructive,  and  suggestive.  Even  in  this  unfamiliar  field, 
he  was  an  intellectual  editor  whose  criticism,  which  was  often  sought 
and  always  freely  given,  was  of  the  highest  value. 

It  was  in  geology,  geography,  and  anthropology  that  he  did  his 
chief  work.  He  made  lasting  contributions  to  these  sciences.  In 
his  later  years  he  devoted  his  efforts  to  the  creation  of  a  sound  public 
conception  of  our  natural  resources,  and  to  their  development  and 
use  to  the  point  of  greatest  efficiency.  Doctor  McGee's  relation  to 
these  subjects  is  more  fully  known  to  his  immediate  associates  in  the 

1  See  page  90. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  7 

various  lines  of  activity  with  which  he  was  identified.    We  shall 
listen  with  pleasure  to  their  discussion  of  his  life  and  work. 

The  first  speaker  will  be  Doctor  Milton  Whitney,  Chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  Soils,  who  was  associated  with  Doctor  McGee  in  his  later 
studies  of  the  uses  of  water  in  agriculture. 

Doctor  Whitney  said: 

For  the  last  five  and  a  half  years  of  his  extremely  active  life,  Doc- 
tor McGee  was  intimately  associated  with  me  in  the  Bureau  of  Soils 
and  was  one  of  my  principal  and  most  valued  advisors.  In  this  in- 
timate and  quiet  association  in  executive  work,  where  practical  things 
have  to  be  done  and  theories  and  speculations  have  to  be  translated 
into  definite,  constructive,  and  reasonable  action,  he  presented  a  side 
of  his  character  which  perhaps  some  of  his  associates  in  the  field  of 
constructive  legislation  did  not  see.  It  is  of  this  I  speak  tonight. 

Like  all  great  reformers,  he  knew  that  to  secure  attention  and  re- 
form in  methods  the  people  must  be  shocked  to  overcome  natural 
inertia  and  arouse  them  to  action. 

His  quotation  of  huge  figures  indicating  that  an  area  equivalent 
to  100,000  farms  has  been  devastated  in  this  country  by  soil  erosion 
was  a  clarion  call  to  attract  attention  to  the  need  of  proper  conserva- 
tion of  the  soil  in  cultivating  the  fields  and  managing  the  forests  and 
other  protective  covers.  He  did  not  mean  that  all  erosion  is  harmful 
and  necessarily  destructive — he  was  too  eminent  a  geologist  and 
physiographer  to  fail  to  see  even  more  clearly  than  most  of  us,  that 
erosion  and  leaching  are  natural  processes  in  the  life  of  the  globe, 
just  as  evaporation  and  elimination  of  what  we  call  waste  material 
is  a  life  process  of  the  living  body.  Without  these  there  would  be  an 
absence  of  surface  relief  and  of  physiographic  form;  there  would  be 
an  absence  of  most  of  the  mineral  segregation  that  marks  our  mineral 
wealth;  there  would  be  an  absence  of  those  rejuvenated  and  most  fer- 
tile soils  of  our  younger  flood  plains,  and  of  the  renewal  of  our  surface 
soils  generally.  His  conception  was  that  erosion  is  a  necessary  nat- 
ural process;  his  purpose  was  not  to  prevent  erosion,  but  to  control 
it  in  the  interest  of  mankind. 

He  no  more  considered  erosion  as  a  necessary  evil  than  he  would 
have  condemned  the  rainfall  because  of  occasional  disastrous  floods, 


8  McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

or  the  movements  of  the  air  which  bring  fresh  supplies  of  oxygen  to 
the  body  because  of  occasional  destructive  storms.  But  he  did  mean 
to  convey  the  idea  that  each  farmer  and  each  land  owner  has  a  duty 
to  himself,  to  posterity,  and  to  the  country  to  protect  our  lands  and 
our  fields  and  waterways  from  destructive  erosion,  as  it  is  the  duty  of 
builders  to  take  all  reasonable  precautions  in  the  construction  of 
dams  and  buildings  and  ships,  in  the  care  of  abutting  properties,  to 
enable  them  to  withstand  floods  and  storms.  He  would  not  have  the 
soil  with  its  cover,  whose  function  it  is  to  conserve  and  regulate 
the  rainfall  and  act  as  a  spillway,  so  ignorantly  handled  that  the  dam 
itself  would  give  way  with  undue  and  unnecessary  loss  of  life-giving 
matter  and  of  property  interests. 

He  was  not  misled  by  the  popular  cry  of  soil  exhaustion  or  soil 
robbery  as  indicating  a  fundamental  and  permanent  impairment  of 
soil  material,  which  he  knew  better  than  any  of  us  can  not  be  accom- 
plished by  human  agencies.  He  knew  that  on  the  whole  crop  yields 
are  increasing  through  more  intelligent  use,  but  he  did  deplore  the 
<enormous  amount  of  useless  and  misdirected  energy  of  the  individual 
in  methods  of  handling  the  soil  and  in  improper  crop  adaptation, 
which  amounts  to  gross  abuse  and  present  impairment  of  the  produc- 
tive powers.  Again  it  was  not  the  material  he  was  worried  about, 
but  the  methods  of  utilizing  it. 

He  believed  that  erosion  and  leaching,  if  properly  used  and  con- 
trolled, would  work  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  just  as  he  believed 
that  the  intelligent  use  of  the  soil  improves  the  soil  for  the  special 
needs  of  mankind.  He  was  a  great  conservationist  through  methods 
of  using  natural  material  rather  than  through  saving  the  material 
itself.  He  was  not  one  to  wrap  his  talent  in  a  napkin  and  at  the 
end  say  "I  was  afraid  and  went  and  hid  my  talent  in  the  earth;  lo, 
there  thou  hast  that  is  thine." 

Doctor  McGee's  attitude  as  I  have  sketched  it  should  be  that  of 
all  true  conservationists.  It  is  the  strongest  impression  I  have  of 
Doctor  McGee's  purpose  and  work,  to  conserve,  through  control  and 
proper  development,  the  natural  forces  and  materials  of  the  nation 
by  the  people  and  for  the  people — by  proper  use  and  not  by  disuse — 
and  his  great  mind  and  his  wise  counsel  was  so  potent  a  factor  among 
us,  his  associates,  as  to  earn  for  him  the  greeting  used  by  the  Master 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  9 

when  He  said  to  that  servant  who  had  ten  talents  and  by  putting 
them  to  proper  use  gained  another  ten  talents — "Well  done,  thou 
good  and  faithful  servant;  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things, 
I  will  make  thee  ruler  over  many  things;  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of 
thy  Lord!" 

The  next  speaker  was  Mr.  Henry  Gannett. 

His  tribute  to  Doctor  McGee  was  that  of  an  intimate  personal 
friend  of  many  years.  The  Committee  deeply  regrets  that  what 
he  said  has  been  lost. 

The  next  speaker  was  Mr.  N.  H.  Darton. 

Mr.  Darton  said: 

When  I  came  to  the  Geological  Survey  some  years  ago,  Doctor 
McGee  was  in  charge  of  one  of  the  divisions,  and  for  awhile  I  worked 
under  his  direction.  The  field  of  investigation  was  the  Atlantic 
Coastal  Plain,  and  for  several  years  I  studied  the  geology  of  part  of 
that  province.  My  experience  in  this  association  with  him  was  most 
pleasing,  and  it  developed  an  appreciation  of  the  man  and  a  feeling 
of  affection  and  tenderness  for  him  that  very  few  could  have  without 
such  an  intimate  acquaintance. 

We  were  studying  in  an  area  that  had  not  been  investigated  in  de- 
tail before,  and  most  of  the  current  ideas  in  regard  to  it  were  errone- 
ous. A  new  system  of  classification  had  to  be  applied,  and  the  genet- 
ic system  developed  by  Doctor  McGee  proved  invaluable.  In  the 
course  of  the  work  he  was  constantly  giving  helpful  suggestions  and 
useful  data  from  his  great  store  of  information  regarding  the  geologi- 
cal features  in  our  area  and  in  other  regions.  We  were  together  often, 
and  although  the  field  work  was  my  own  the  results  obtained  were 
greatly  enhanced  by  McGee's  assistance.  The  principal  tribute  I 
want  to  make  here  is  to  his  very  great  generosity  to  those  working 
with  him.  This  was  one  of  his  strongest  characteristics.  All  who 
came  in  contact  with  him  received  advice,  suggestions,  and  valuable 
facts,  and  these  were  placed  at  their  disposal  without  thought  of 
credit  to  himself.  He  had  not  only  a  vast  amount  of  experience  and 


10  McGEE   MEMORIAL   MEETING 

knowledge  in  geology  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  in 
other  allied  sciences,  but  he  was  a  compendium  of  information  along 
a  great  many  other  lines.  He  was  indefatigable  and  unselfish  in  the 
search  for  facts  and  for  their  promulgation  in  advantageous  manner. 
His  genius  for  obtaining  information  and  his  unusual  ability  as  a 
writer  and  speaker  are  well  known  to  you. 

I  wish  to  say  a  few  words  as  to  his  very  great  influence  in  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey  in  the  early  days  of  its  organization. 
I  know  how  very  intimately  he  was  associated  with  Major  Powell, 
and  how  effectively  he  assisted  in  shaping  the  policy  and  characteris- 
tics of  that  great  organization.  It  was  a  labor  of  love  with  him,  and 
he  showed  great  skill  in  developing  methods  and  conducting  many 
of  the  affairs  of  the  Survey  in  those  days. 

Personally,  McGee  was  known  to  so  many  of  you  that  I  need 
hardly  refer  to  his  many  fine  characteristics.  He  was  dear  to  all  of 
us,  I  am  sure.  He  was  especially  so  to  me. 

The  next  speaker  was  Doctor  Franz  Boas. 

Doctor  Boas  said: 

I  have  been  asked  to  speak  of  McGee's  work  as  an  anthropologist; 
but  since  he  was  one  of  the  men  whose  scientific  work  was  an  expres- 
sion of  a  powerful  personality,  an  attempt  to  do  justice  to  the  scientist 
must  include  a  consideration  of  the  man. 

I  am  probably  not  mistaken  if  I  assume  that  McGee's  interest  in 
anthropology  arose  from  his  close  association  with  Major  Powell,  for 
so  long  a  time  a  dominant  figure  in  the  scientific  life  of  our  country, 
especially  of  Washington.  When  Powell  withdrew  from  the  Geologi- 
cal Survey,  which  he  had  so  successfully  directed  for  many  years,  and 
assumed  the  position  as  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  McGee 
left  the  Survey  with  him.  Owing  to  Major  Powell's  failing  health, 
the  administration  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  fell  more  and  more 
on  McGee's  shoulders.  This  was  the  period  in  which  his  anthropo- 
logical work  was  done.  With  rare  tact  and  unswerving  loyalty  to 
his  friend,  Major  Powell,  he  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  Bureau,  so 
far  as  his  position  allowed  him  a  free  hand. 

My  own  acquaintance  with  McGee  dates  back  to  this  time.     Im- 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  11 

mediately  upon  his  transfer  to  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  great  pres- 
sure was  brought  to  bear  by  some  of  his  friends  to  have  him  elected 
president  of  one  of  our  anthropological  societies.  At  that  time  I 
opposed  his  nomination.  At  the  same  time  the  changes  in  personnel 
in  a  number  of  governmental  and  private  anthropological  institutions 
had  led  to  some  friction,  also  between  McGee  and  myself.  When,  a 
few  months  later,  I  met  him  for  the  first  tune,  the  courageous  frank- 
ness with  which  he  took  up  our  previous  conflicts,  and  his  unceasing 
straightforward  endeavors  to  reestablish  harmony  among  anthropol- 
ogists, showed  his  true  mettle  and  established  our  lasting  friendship. 
For  many  years  of  more  or  less  intimate  intercourse  he  always  proved 
the  same  upright  courageous  champion  of  his  ideals,  whom  no  timid 
consideration  could  turn  from  the  path  that  he  considered  the  right 
one. 

His  forceful  character  that  was  thus  manifested,  and  his  passion 
for  making  himself  useful,  made  him  a  prominent  figure  in  the  prog- 
ress of  science.  American  anthropologists  owe  much  to  his  initia- 
tive and  persistence.  I  mention  only  his  share  in  the  foundation  of 
the  new  American  Anthropologist,  that,  largely  through  his  efforts, 
became  a  National  journal,  when  the  Anthropological  Society  of 
Washington  could  no  longer  provide  for  the  growing  needs  of  anthro- 
pological publication;  and  his  participation  in  the  foundation  of  the 
American  Anthropological  Association,  the  form  of  which  is  largely 
based  on  his  suggestion.  This  society  differs  from  other  scientific 
bodies  devoted  to  the  interests  of  special  branches  of  knowledge  in 
not  being  confined  to  a  membership  of  specialists.  Like  many  of 
our  more  general  societies  it  includes  many  lay  members.  McGee's 
thoroughly  democratic  spirit  and  his  belief  in  the  possibility  of  solv- 
ing scientific  problems  by  application  of  common  sense  and  honest 
sober  thought  made  this  type  of  organization  more  sympathetic  to 
him  than  a  purely  technical  society,  and  it  was  to  a  great  extent  due 
to  his  influence  that  this  form  was  finally  chosen. 

McGee's  scientific  work  belongs  to  the  period  in  which  certain  well- 
marked  tendencies  developed  under  the  strong  influence  of  Major 
Powell's  personality.  Characteristic  of  the  group  of  men  who  worked 
with  Major  Powell  was  the  attempt  to  develop  systematic  thought, 
on  the  basis  of  certain  principles,  essentially  by  deduction.  He  and 


12  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

his  friends  were  ever  ready  to  amass  new  material  for  induction,  but 
their  own  minds  set  a  definite  stamp  on  the  data,  thus  fitting  them 
into  a  preconceived  scheme.  The  importance  given  to  deductive 
thought  was  also  the  reason  why  so  many  among  this  group  of  men 
were  ready  to  attack  scientific  problems  of  the  most  divine  kind,  and 
why  the  craft  of  the  expert  was  held  in  less  respect  by  them  than  the 
open  eye  of  a  clearminded  observer.  With  Powell  the  systematic 
idea  had  taken  such  firm  root  that  he  had  planned  a  complete  syste- 
matic description  of  American  anthropology  in  a  few  volumes,  which 
would  have  been  an  epitome  of  his  philosophy.  He  even  hesitated 
to  make  the  full  data  on  which  this  epitome  was  to  be  based  common 
property  of  the  scientific  world.  Although  the  work  of  some  of  his 
collaborators,  like  Dorsey  and  Gatschet,  did  not  at  all  fit  into  this 
scheme,  it  was  the  ideal  for  which  he  was  striving.  Me  Gee  broke 
away  from  this  concept,  in  so  far  as  he  recognized  more  clearly  the 
necessity  of  detailed  monographic  studies  of  data,  and  of  promoting 
new  lines  of  research  that  might  not  fit  into  the  system.  Neverthe- 
less his  own  inquiries  were  largely  directed  by  his  philosophic  inter- 
est in  principles,  and  the  most  characteristic  feature  of  his  own  re- 
searches is  the  relatively  slight  basis  of,  observation  for  far-reaching 


deduction.  *"*  r 

At  the  same  time  the  thorough  saturation  of  his  mind  with  the 
principles  upon  which  his  scientific  facts  were  to  bear  made  him  an 
acute  observer,  and  gave  to  his  field-work  an  unusual  value.  He 
never  became  a  gatherer  of  disconnected  facts,  but  every  observa- 
tion had  an  immediate  bearing  upon  some  of  the  fundamental  prob- 
lems of  anthropology  as  they  appeared  to  his  mind.  I  may  mention 
particularly  his  studies  of  desert  environment,  which  bring  out  this 
characteristic  trait  of  his  work  most  clearly.  His  short  visit  to  the 
Seri  Indians  of  the  Gulf  of  California  gave  him  the  material  for  an 
elaborate  treatise,  which  is  remarkable  on  account  of  the  ingenious 
interpretation  of  data,  observed  with  great  skill  and  care,  but  never- 
theless fragmentary,  an  interpretation  that  can  be  understood  only 
when  we  take  into  account  the  deductive  basis  on  which  he  mar- 
shalled his  array  of  facts.  No  less  marked  is  this  tendency  in  his 
investigations  on  primitive  systems  of  numeration,  on  primitive  tre- 
phining in  Peru,  and  on  the  origin  of  agriculture.  He  never  lost 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  13 

touch  with  his  data,  but  the  basis  of  his  thought  was  a  system  of  an- 
thropology, into  which  he  tried  to  fit  his  observations. 

Although,  therefore,  the  value  of  his  monographic  studies  stands 
and  falls  with  the  acceptance  of  his  fundamental  theories,  his  work 
itself,  carried  through  under  the  impulse  of  a  strong  desire  to  contri- 
bute to  the  solution  of  great  problems,  gains  its  permanent  value 
through  the  bearing  of  his  detailed  studies  upon  fundamental  ques- 
tions. In  this  sense  McGee  belonged  to  an  older  school  of  investi- 
gators. During  the  last  twenty  years  anthropologists  have  come  to 
be  more  and  more  worshippers  of  the  accumulation  of  facts;  and  the 
more  facts  an  investigator  brings  together,  the  higher  we  are  inclined 
to  value  him.  McGee  did  not  belong  to  this  class.  For  him  the  fact 
had  a  value  only  as  related  to  a  wider  concept.  While  we  are  not 
likely  to  return  to  Powell's  and  McGee's  points  of  view,  I  think  we 
may  observe  a  certain  tendency  to  turn  back  from  the  over-enthusi- 
astic, often  unmethodical  collection  of  data,  and  that  theory  and  ob- 
servation begin  to  find  their  proper  relation. 

The  idea  that  stands  out  most  clearly  in  McGee's  work,  even  more 
so  than  in  that  of  Major  Powell,  is  that  of  the  continuity  of  mental 
processes  in  all  stages  of  civilization,  an  idea  the  value  of  which,  I 
believe,  will  become  the  more  apparent  the  farther  our  inquiries  pro- 
gress. This  idea  was  not  entirely  new.  It  had  found  expression  in 
Bastian's  analysis  of  modern  philosophic  systems  by  means  of  com- 
parison with  the  philosophic  views  of  primitive  man,  and  it  was  the 
fundamental  note  underlying  Spencerian  sociology.  The  beginnings 
of  civilization  had  a  meaning  for  him,  on  the  one  hand  as  steps  neces- 
sary for  an  intelligent  understanding  of  the  history  of  mankind,  on 
the  other  hand  as  illustrating  the  stepping-stones  to  future  progress. 
He  wanted  to  discover  the  conditions  favoring  creative  activity,  the 
only  form  of  work  that  seemed  to  him  worth  while,  and  he  hoped  to 
find  them  through  his  study  of  the  stages  that  led  man  from  primitive 
to  modern  social  conditions. 

While  other  investigators  were  engaged  in  similar  lines  of  research, 
McGee  made  these  ideas  the  foundation  of  a  new  kind  of  constructive 
work;  and  it  was  his  ardent  desire  to  see  the  Bureau,  that  was  at  least 
in  part  in  his  charge,  contribute  to  the  welfare  of  the  nation  by  ad- 
vancing our  knowledge  of  the  conditions  that  make  man  creative. 


14  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

I  believe  in  this  novel  concept  of  anthropology  which  he  formu- 
lated, and  for  which  he  strove  with  never-ceasing  ardor,  lies  his  great- 
est contribution  to  anthropology.  True  to  the  best  traditions  of 
productive  scientific  work,  he  gave  the  men  who  worked  with  him  the 
greatest  possible  freedom  in  carrying  out  the  work  in  their  charge, 
while  he  himself  was  planning  to  develop  the  anthropological  work 
of  the  Government  so  as  to  fulfill  the  larger  mission  that  he  had  in 
mind.  The  task  entrusted  to  the  Bureau  is  the  recording  of  the 
earliest  history  of  our  country  as  preserved  in  pre-historic  remains, 
in  the  bodily  appearance  of  the  Indians,  in  their  living  tradition,  in 
their  languages  and  customs.  He  fully  recognized  the  duty  that  we 
owe  to  our  descendants,  as  well  as  to  the  whole  civilized  world,  of 
gathering  these  data,  that  are  all  too  rapidlly  disappearing;  that  we 
must  not  expose  our  generation  to  the  reproach  of  having  neglected 
our  duty  to  posterity  by  failing  in  this  work — an  omission  that  no 
future  regrets  can  ever  make  good,  for  after  our  generation  the  very 
basis  of  work  of  this  kind  will  have  disappeared. 

However,  Me  Gee  saw  further  than  this.  The  forces  that  are  ac- 
tive in  the  primitive  society  of  America  are  still  at  work,  and  come 
into  play  in  the  absorption  of  our  immigrant  population;  in  the  rela- 
tions between  white,  negro,  Indian,  and  Mongol;  in  the  economic 
conflicts  of  the  day;  in  the  biological  conditions  of  modern  life;  in 
the  deleterious  and  beneficial  effects  of  changed  modes  of  nutrition 
and  living;  in  the  inheritance  of  valuable  strains;  and  the  elimination 
or  preservation  of  the  weak.  The  necessity  of  solving  national  prob- 
lems by  means  of  anthropological  research,  that  during  the  last  few 
years  has  come  to  be  recognized  most  clearly  in  England,  stood  out 
before  his  mind  as  an  end  towards  which  an  anthropological  bureau 
supported  by  the  Government  should  strive.  His  recognition  of  the 
problem  was  clear.  He  expressed  his  idea  once  in  this  form:  "We 
try  to  conserve  our  natural  resources.  Anthropology  must  do  its 
share  for  the  conservation  of  human  energy.  It  is  our  duty  to  find 
out  how  this  can  be  done."  His  thoughts  were  largely  devoted  to 
the  question  how  to  build  up  a  scientific  bureau  that  could  realize 
these  aims.  He  was  clear  in  his  mind  that  scientific  painstaking  re- 
searches had  to  be  the  basis  of  this  work,  and  it  was  his  desire  to 
have  anthropological  work  organized  on  this  wider  basis. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  15 

His  hopes  were  not  realized.  However,  we  may  see  even  now 
that  his  viewpoints  find  wider  and  wider  acceptance.  Here  and  there 
in  a  disconnected  way,  often  carried  to  extremes  by  over-enthusiastic 
confidence  in  the  meagre  results  so  far  attained,  this  anthropological 
view  of  society  finds  expression;  and  I  feel  confident  that  the  larger 
view,  to  the  establishment  of  which  McGee  contributed  a  liberal  part, 
will  ultimately  prevail.  When  we  reach  that  period  when  a  true  an- 
thropological survey  of  the  nation  stands  side  by  side  with  the  biologi- 
cal, geological,  and  physical  survey  of  the  country,  let  us  remember 
the  great  mind  that  fought  in  advance  of  his  time,  but  not  in  vain,  to 
realize  this  great  aim. 

The  next  speaker  was  Colonel  H.  C.  Rizer. 

Colonel  Rizer  said: 

W  J  McGee  was  born  in  Dubuque  County,  Iowa,  April  17,  1853. 
He  drifted  with  uncertain  aim  until  he  reached  maturity,  when  he 
definitely  took  up  the  study  of  geology  for  a  career.  He  became 
connected  with  the  Geological  Survey  in  1883  and  continued  there 
until  1894,  when  he  became  an  anthropologist  and  followed  his  old 
leader,  Major  Powell,  to  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology.  He  resigned  from 
that  Bureau  in  1903  to  become  chief  of  the  Anthropological  Depart- 
ment of  the  St.  Louis  Exposition.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  work  there 
he  became  connected  with  the  Bureau  of  Soils,  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, where  he  continued  until  he  died. 

His  most  important  work  perhaps  was  as  a  member  of  the  Inland 
Waterways  Commission  and  in  aid  of  various  phases  of  the  Conser- 
vation movement.  He  died  at  the  Cosmos  Club,  Washington,  D. 
C.,  September  4,  1912. 

To  me  the  most  striking  characteristic  displayed  by  Doctor  McGee 
was  found  in  his  wide  range  of  information.  He  knew  much  of  some 
things  and  he  knew  something  of  many  things.  Whether  much  or 
slight,  what  he  knew  in  some  way  near  or  remote  related  to  human 
interests  or  human  activities.  He  had  a  marvelously  retentive  mem- 
ory. Things  once  carefully  noted  seemed  to  be  permanently  photo- 
graphed. In  private  conversation  or  in  a  public  gathering  the  intro- 
duction of  a  subject  would  find  him  a  ready  participant  and  an  inter- 


16  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

esting  contributor.  He  was  fond  of  combating  antagonistic  views 
and  was  glad  to  proclaim  his  own.  Yet  he  never  seemed  to  be  tinc- 
tured with  pedantry.  He  enjoyed  wit  and  humor,  but  cared  little 
for  amusements  that  others  usually  find  attractive.  Many  years  ago 
at  his  suggestion  I  accompanied  him  to  Kernan's  to  witness  feats  of 
strength  performed  by  a  man  of  rare  muscular  development.  I  went 
for  diversion  and  was  entertained,  while  he  went  for  the  opportunity 
to  study  and  was  rewarded.  Another  time  I  went  with  him  to  see 
an  alleged  petrified  woman.  Neither  of  us  believed  there  existed  an 
authenticated  case  of  petrification  of  a  human  body.  I  was  satis- 
fied at  viewing  a  well  molded  form,  but  he,  imbued  with  the  scientific 
instinct,  secured  permission  from  the  owner  to  make  a  test,  and  at  a 
subsequent  visit  drilled  a  hole  in  an  arm  of  the  form  and  turned  a 
phenomenon  into  a  fake  by  exposing  a  piece  of  gas  pipe. 

Many  instances  might  be  recounted  of  his  propensity  to  test  or 
investigate  and  bring  to  light  the  facts  before  consenting  to  a  pos- 
sibly false  claim. 

He  was  at  all  times  an  optimist.  He  had  absolute  faith  in  the 
progress  and  development  of  the  human  race  and  believed  it  the  duty 
of  everyone  to  use  his  best  endeavor  to  further  this  end.  Even  as 
death's  gloom  rapidly  settled  upon  him  he  manifested  his  confidence 
in  the  final  triumph  of  Science  over  the  malady  that  was  remorse- 
lessly dragging  him  from  life. 

He  looked  to  the  educated  investigator  for  the  solution  of  prob- 
lems, but  if  the  end  sought  was  accomplished  by  an  empiric  he  ac- 
cepted the  result  gladly. 

He  was  an  industrious  man  and  capable  of  sustained  exertion. 
He  said  he  needed  ten  hours  sleep  in  each  twenty-four,  but  I  have 
known  him  to  work  thirty-six  consecutive  hours  with  brief  intermis- 
sions for  eating  only. 

His  life  habits  were  simple.  I  never  knew  him  to  be  addicted  to 
extravagent  indulgence.  He  was  profligate  of  his  limited  means,  how- 
ever, in  responding  to  appeals  for  aid,  and  he  was  sometimes  the  vic- 
tim of  parasites.  He  was  not  wanting  in  sympathy,  but  at  times  I 
thought  him  wholly  lacking  in  the  element  we  call  emotion,  and  I 
never  but  once  saw  a  manifestation  of  it  in  him.  This  was  about  a 
month  before  he  died  when  I  related  to  him  a  highly  complimentary 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  17 

reference  to  him  by  one  whom  he  probably  esteemed  first  among 
his  personal  friends  and  with  whom  he  had  for  several  years  worked 
in  complete  harmony  on  various  phases  of  conservation.  As  I  con- 
cluded my  statement  his  face  flushed,  a  lump  seemed  to  rise  in  his 
throat,  and  moisture  came  to  his  eyes.  It  was  with  difficulty  that 
he  regained  his  self-control  and  gave  expressions  of  his  deep  feeling 
of  gratitude. 

Two  days  after  he  was  confined  to  his  bed  from  a  fall  he  requested 
to  see  me.  Upon  my  visit  to  him  that  afternoon  he  told  me  in  a 
simple  matter-of-fact  way  that  he  had  reached  the  beginning  of  the 
end — that  he  was  the  victim  of  cancer  in  an  advanced  stage,  and  that 
there  remained  to  him  but  a  few  weeks  of  life.  He  said  it  was  his 
desire  to  have  his  brain  sent  to  Doctor  Spitzka,  of  Philadelphia,  and 
his  body  given  to  some  institution  that  it  might  be  dissected  in  the 
interest  of  scientific  investigation.  He  knew  that  I  always  remain 
in  Washington  through  the  summer,  and  as  it  was  necessary  for  the 
one  upon  whom  he  relied  to  be  here  when  the  end  came  he  wanted  to 
know  if  I  would  consent  to  being  named  as  his  executor.  His  mind 
seemed  relieved  upon  receiving  my  consent  and  the  next  day  he  dic- 
tated his  will. 

He  lingered  more  than  two  months  and  was  almost  a  constant 
sufferer.  At  first  he  was  always  glad  to  engage  in  conversation  and 
took  a  keen  interest  in  passing  events.  He  would  at  such  times  seem 
to  forget  his  condition,  and  not  infrequently  indulge  in  his  old-time 
chuckle  at  some  humorous  passage. 

He  was  unable  to  retain  nourishment,  and  gradually  became  weaker 
physically.  Soon  he  began  to  show  mental  weariness  and  became 
slow  of  speech,  losing  the  old  readiness  of  uttering  the  word  that  best 
conveyed  the  thought  he  desired  to  express.  Then  came  mental 
mistiness  and  periods  of  unconsciousness,  and  thus  he  died. 

The  next  speaker  was  Mr.  F.  W.  Hodge. 

Mr.  Hodge  said: 

It  would  be  difficult  for  one  who  was  so  long  associated  with  Doctor 
Me  Gee  in  an  official  and  personal  way,  to  present,  in  a  few  moments, 
even  a  brief  appraisal  of  his  many  qualities.  To  such  a  one  four 


18  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

characteristics  of  the  man  stand  out  prominently  among  many  others: 
his  indomitable  energy  and  capacity  for  work;  his  unbounded  gener- 
osity in  its  widest  sense;  his  kindliness  of  spirit;  and  his  helpfulness, 
especially  to  younger  men. 

McGee's  energy  and  capacity  for  work  are  well  known  to  all  who 
knew  him.  Time  and  again  I  have  known  him  overwhelmed  with 
duties  of  many  kinds,  but  never  the  time  when  he  was  not  ready  and 
willing  to  take  on  another  burden.  His  energy  was  stupendous,  and 
his  physical  endurance  for  many  years  such  that,  day  in  and  day  out, 
for  weeks  and  months  together,  he  would  labor  from  early  morning 
until  well  after  midnight  and  yet  without  the  staling  of  his  mental 
or  physical  vitality.  Of  his  versatility  others  have  spoken.  McGee 
was  interested  in  everything  under  the  sun  worthy  of  his  interest, 
whether  politics,  religion,  hydrography;  the  origin  of  mathematics  (a 
subject  in  which  he  was  particularly  interested  and  for  a  thesis  on 
which  he  was  accorded  his  doctorate) ;  geology;  economics;  mechanics, 
his  knowledge  of  which  had  its  inception  at  the  forge;  the  play  of  men 
and  animals;  the  beginnings  of  primitive  and  social  institutions;  pre- 
historic surgery — indeed  there  was  almost  no  phase  of  the  science  of 
man  to  which  he  did  not  devote  some  serious  attention  or  contribute 
from  the  sum  of  his  knowledge. 

McGee's  unlimited  generosity  is  known  to  all.  It  would  require 
many  times  the  brief  period  allotted  me  to  recount  half  the  generous 
acts  that  chanced  to  come  under  my  personal  observation.  He  was 
the  first  and  the  last  resource  for  all  classes  of  hangers-on  as  well  as 
for  those  who  were  not  habitual  parasites — cowboys  and  Indians  down 
on  their  luck,  decayed  scholars,  and  many  others  who,  knowing  that 
McGee  had  never  learned  the  first  lesson  of  refusal,  found  in  his 
means,  limited  though  they  were,  a  perennial  fountain  of  pecuniary 
blessings.  I  never  knew  an  appeal  to  McGee  for  aid,  of  whatever 
nature,  to  pass  unheeded,  and  we  are  all  pretty  well  aware  of  what 
his  worldly  resources  were. 

But  it  was  not  alone  his  generosity  in  such  directions,  but  his  en- 
thusiasm, the  inspiring  influence  of  his  personality,  his  energy  and 
capacity,  of  which  all  of  his  associates  imbibed  and  from  which  they 
have  become  the  direct  beneficiaries.  It  was  impossible  for  one  of 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  19 

his  coworkers  not  to  feel  the  spark  of  his  enthusiastic  nature,  the  full 
effect  of  his  prodigious  energy  and  versatility,  and  his  interest  in  all 
worthy  things. 

The  next  speaker  was  Professor  Joseph  A.  Holmes. 

Professor  Holmes  said: 

It  was  my  special  commission  tonight  that  I  should  endeavor  to 
fill  up  any  odds  and  ends  that  might  be  omitted  in  the  preceding  dis- 
cussion. One  of  the  things  that  has  always  interested  me  in  connec- 
tion with  Doctor  McGee  is  a  thing  which  has  been  touched  upon  but 
lightly,  and  that  is  McGee  at  play.  That  can  be  discussed  very 
briefly  because,  strictly  speaking,  McGee  never  played.  I  doubt 
very  much  whether  he  played  in  his  boyhood  days,  for  certainly  in 
his  mature  manhood  he  never  knew  what  it  was  to  play.  I  was  as- 
sociated with  McGee  in  the  Atlantic  Coastal  Plain  work,  and  later  in 
connection  with  the  work  of  the  St.  Louis  Exposition,  Doctor  McGee 
having  charge  of  the  Department  of  Anthropology.  One  of  the  things 
which  always  interested  me  in  trying  to  study  McGee  at  play  was  his 
fairness  and  his  gentlemanliness.  I  have  been  with  McGee  day  after 
day,  month  after  month,  at  the  work  table,  lunch  table,  and  other- 
wise. McGee  never  rested  except  when  he  was  asleep.  McGee 
did  rest  well,  however,  when  he  slept.  It  was  fortunate  that  he 
did  sleep  soundly,  and  I  think  one  of  the  great  secrets  of  his  im- 
mense intellectual  activity  was  that  he  rested  while  he  rested,  and 
therefore,  was  able  to  work  while  he  worked. 

I  never  heard  McGee  tell  a  story  or  an  anecdote,  or  give  an  ex- 
pression that  cou'd  not  have  been  given  before  this  audience. 

I  remember  taking  a  trip  with  him  across  Virginia,  the  Carolinas, 
Alabama,  and  Mississippi.  When  we  reached  the  Mississippi,  I 
asked  to  see  some  of  McGee's  notes,  and  he  said  he  was  going  to 
write  them  out  when  he  got  back  to  Washington,  and  the  remarkable 
accuracy  with  which  he  had  remembered  the  details  of  section  after 
section  of  that  trip  was  one  of  the  marvels  that  impressed  me  about 
him.  When  he  got  back  to  Washington,  for  some  thirty-six  con- 
tinuous hours,  with  very  short  stops  for  meals,  McGee  dictated  the 
notes  which  developed  into  a  volume. 


20  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

I  remember  that  in  the  summer  of  1907,  Pinchot,  McGee,  and  I 
were  out  in  the  southern  Sierra  Mountains  in  California,  supposedly 
resting.  It  was  during  that  time  that  many  of  the  Conservation  plans, 
which  have  disturbed  somewhat  the  even  tenor  of  our  ways,  were 
formulated.  I  was  a  listener,  and  a  good  rester.  They  made  the 
plans.  One  of  the  things  that  occurred  was  that  when  we  passed 
over  the  mountains,  we  went  over  formations  Me  Gee  had  visited  fif- 
teen years  before.  Me  Gee  would  tell  me  time  after  time  with  great 
detail  what  I  was  going  to  see  when  we  came  to  a  certain  bluff,  and 
I  would  see  just  what  Me  Gee  had  told  me. 

One  of  the  things  in  connection  with  the  St.  Louis  Exposition  work 
illustrates  McGee's  life  as  an  administrative  officer.  He  went  to  the 
Exposition  under  exceedingly  trying  conditions.  There  was  little  in 
the  way  of  funds  at  his  disposal  and  rather  an  unsympathetic  ad- 
ministration. But  with  all  these  discouragements  McGee  went  for- 
ward and  brought  together  an  exhibit  representing  all  the  different 
races  of  mankind  such  as  we  have  never  had  in  this  country  before 
or  since,  and  there  he  showed  an  infinite  tact  in  getting  along  with 
people  under  exceedingly  difficult  conditions.  One  of  the  secrets  of 
that  was  that  McGee  always  had  a  good  word  to  say  for  the  other 
fellow.  People  got  tired  of  not  doing  the  things  McGee  wanted  them 
to  do  simply  because  he  was  such  a  good  fellow.  It  was  a  great  privi- 
lege to  be  with  him  and  work  with  him.  He  gave  the  most  helpful 
sort  of  help  I  have  ever  had. 

The  last  speaker  was  Mr.  Gifford  Pinchot. 

Mr.  Pinchot  said: 

My  real  knowledge  of  Doctor  W  J  McGee  began  when  I  came  to 
Washington  to  take  charge  of  the  old  Division  of  Forestry  in  the 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture.  As  a  beginner  in  the  work 
of  organization,  and  with  little  experience  of  governmental  affairs, 
McGee's  helpfulness  made  an  enormous  difference  to  me  at  the  start. 
It  was  not  only  that  he  put  his  great  experience  and  wide  knowledge 
at  my  service.  That  did  very  much,  but  what  I  think  did  even  more 
was  his  consideration  for  the  beginner  and  the  feeling  he  gave  me 
that  in  his  view  as  an  older  man  my  work  and  I  were  both  worth 
while. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  21 

Gradually  his  breadth  of  knowledge  and  of  interest  made  its  deeper 
impression.  I  came  to  see  not  only  that  his  mind  was  encyclopedic 
in  the  extent  and  accuracy  of  its  information  on  countless  subjects, 
but  that  his  vast  mental  activity  was  tempered  and  guided  by  the 
informing  conviction  that  what  he  knew  was  valuable  only  as  he 
could  make  it  serve  the  human  race.  It  was  this  quality  fully  as 
much  as  his  enormous  scientific  erudition  which  gave  him  the  indis- 
pensable place  he  occupied  in  the  Conservation  movement. 

Without  Me  Gee  the  Conservation  movement  would  either  have 
been  delayed  for  years,  or  would  have  been  feeble  and  halting  at 
birth.  His  contribution  to  it  has  been  far  too  little  known.  This 
was  due  in  part  to  the  unavoidable  circumstances  of  the  case,  and 
in  part  to  a  generosity  without  parallel  in  my  experience  among  sci- 
entific men.  McGee's  generosity  was  of  that  rarest  type  which  is 
willing  to  supply  ideas  and  the  expression  of  ideas  without  asking  to 
be  known  in  connection  with  them.  Many  and  many  a  passage  in 
Roosevelt's  Presidential  messages  and  in  other  state  papers  dealing 
with  Conservation  had  its  first  beginning  in  McGee's  penetrating 
intelligence.  Many  and  many  a  statement  like  the  Declaration  of 
Principles  of  the  great  Conference  of  Governors,  and  the  final  Declara- 
tion of  the  North  American  Conservation  Conference,  of  which  con- 
ference he  was  not  even  a  member,  would  have  lacked  much  of  their 
quality  and  power  except  for  his  guiding  hand. 

So  far  as  such  a  thing  can  ever  be  said  of  any  one  man  in  a  move- 
ment so  extensive,  McGee  was  the  scientific  brains  of  the  Conser- 
vation movement  all  through  its  early  critical  stages.  The 
distinguishing  fact  about  that  movement  from  the  first  was  its  joint 
consideration  of  all  the  natural  resources  together  as  the  working 
capital  of  humanity,  and  its  object  to  make  the  best  practicable  use 
of  them  for  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number  for  the  longest 
time.  The  wide  and  balanced  knowledge  of  this  continent  which  was 
so  striking  a  peculiarity  of  McGee's  intellectual  equipment  naturally 
fitted  him  for  this  work  in  a  very  high  degree,  and  gave  him  his 
very  special  place  in  the  history  of  Conservation. 

McGee  at  least  as  much  as  any  other  one  man  was  responsible  for 
formulating  the  plan  for  the  Roosevelt  Inland  Waterways  Com- 
mission, which  for  the  first  tune  in  any  national  project  considered 


22  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

as  a  single  problem  the  wise  handling  of  all  the  natural  resources  of 
the  continent.  As  Secretary  of  this  Commission  and  as  unofficial 
adviser  and  guide  of  all  of  the  inland  waterway  associations,  Me  Gee 
played  a  part  in  the  development  of  our  rivers  the  importance  of 
which  it  would  be  difficult  to  overstate.  Of  all  his  services  to  the 
Conservation  movement,  this  was  the  one  which  carried  most  clearly 
the  impress  of  his  personality,  and  in  which  his  contributions  were 
most  effective.  In  convention  after  convention  of  commercial  bodies 
all  over  the  United  States  and  in  the  action  of  Governors  and  Legis- 
latures on  this  deeply  important  subject,  it  was  McGee's  mind  which 
inspired  and  guided  the  decisions  taken.  His  relation  to  the  Na- 
tional Irrigation  Congress  during  the  latter  years  of  his  life  was  hardly 
less  decisive,  and  yet  in  both  of  these  directions,  except  among  the 
men  who  were  actively  responsible,  his  participation  was  compara- 
tively little  known. 

McGee  was  not  a  member  of  the  Public  Lands  Commission,  nor 
of  the  Country  Life  Commission,  yet  in  both,  and  especially  in  the 
latter,  his  influence  was  deeply  felt.  He  was  one  of  the  two  men  upon 
whom  rested  the  arrangements  for  the  great  Conference  of  Govern- 
ors held  at  the  White  House  in  May,  1908.  Many  of  the  utterances 
which  attracted  most  attention  at  that  conference  were  prepared  by 
him  or  with  his  assistance,  and  the  breadth  of  view  which  character- 
ized it  would  have  been  absolutely  impossible  without  his  aid. 

Out  of  the  Conference  of  Governors  grew  the  National  Conserva- 
tion Commission.  Officially  McGee  was  merely  secretary  of  one  of 
its  four  divisions,  that  which  dealt  with  the  waters  of  the  continent. 
Practically,  in  every  branch  of  the  Commission's  work  he  was  the 
trusted  and  effective  adviser,  a  very  fountain  of  knowledge,  without 
whom  the  material  for  its  historic  report,  the  first  inventory  of  the 
natural  resources  of  any  nation,  could  not  have  been  brought  together. 
Important  as  his  services  were  as  a  geologist,  as  an  anthropologist, 
and  still  more  because  of  what  he  was  as  a  man,  I  believe  that  his 
work  in  Conservation  will  ultimately  be  seen  to  have  outweighed  all 
the  rest. 

McGee's  grasp  of  human  life  as  a  progressive  development  in  time 
and  space  was  as  wide  as  his  conception  of  the  interrelation  of  nat- 
ural resources,  which  is  the  basis  of  Conservation.  He  saw  not  only 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  23 

acutely  and  with  the  finest  intellectual  honesty,  but  also  with  the 
broadest  comprehension  of  relations  of  every  kind.  For  many  years 
I  was  in  effect  his  pupil.  I  have  never  met  a  man  whose  imagina- 
tive suggestiveness  in  scientific  work  and  in  the  application  of  scien- 
tific results  to  human  problems  could  be  compared  with  his.  It  was 
always  the  application  of  knowledge  which  appealed  to  him.  His 
mind  passed  easily  across  the  details  of  a  scientific  problem  to  its  appli- 
cation in  matters  that  would  count  for  the  welfare  of  the  people. 

I  have  never  forgotten  how  he  first  suggested  to  me  that  the  saving 
of  the  natural  resources  for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  through  the  Con- 
servation movement,  involved  as  one  of  its  main  problems  the  whole 
monopoly  question.  At  first  the  idea  seemed  to  me  fantastic. 
Gradually  I  came  to  see  with  him  that  the  use  of  the  resources  is 
fully  as  important  as  the  saving  of  them,  and  that  one  of  the  great 
phases  of  Conservation  is  the  problem  of  the  concentration  of  natural 
wealth  in  the  hands  of  monopolists. 

The  breadth  and  reach  of  Doctor  McGee's  interests  may  be  indi- 
cated by  a  partial  list  of  the  subjects  in  which  his  helpful  influence  was 
strongly  and  effectively  exerted.  Of  geology  and  anthropology  I 
must  leave  others  to  speak.  His  work  in  Conservation  dealt  with 
navigable  streams,  waterpower,  irrigation,  potable  waters  from  wells, 
and  springs,  and  streams,  the  laws  of  streamflow,  the  whole  subject 
of  erosion,  including  as  a  single  example  the  methods  of  avoiding 
erosion  by  contour  plowing  on  hilly  land,  the  protection  of  coal  and 
oil  lands  from  misappropriation,  the  saving  of  the  phosphate  lands  for 
the  people,  forestry,  with  particular  emphasis  on  the  Appalachian 
National  Forest,  the  public  lands,  the  whole  question  of  country  life, 
etc.  His  interest  in  humanity  made  him  a  radical  in  politics,  to 
which  he  gave  much  philosophic  attention  both  as  a  branch  of  applied 
anthropology,  and  as  an  instrument  for  human  progress.  This  in- 
terest led  to  his  quiet  but  exceedingly  practical  participation  in  law 
making  to  such  an  extent  that  many  laws  with  whose  passage  he  had, 
ostensibly  at  least,  little  to  do,  in  fact  bore  the  impress  of  his  forceful 
influence  or  were  originated  by  it. 

McGee's  capacity  to  see  and  judge  himself  and  his  affairs  without 
selfish  bias  was  as  remarkable  as  his  mental  achievements.  Only  a 
man  of  flawless  courage  and  complete  unselfishness  could  have  reached 


24  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

so  high  a  point  of  personal  detachment.  Instances  of  his  physical 
bravery  are  the  common  property  of  all  his  friends,  while  every  man 
who  knows  the  circumstances  of  the  last  months  of  his  life  recog- 
nizes in  him  the  expression  of  moral  courage  of  the  highest  and  rarest 
kind.  The  certainty  that  his  days  were  numbered,  that  they  would 
probably  end  in  prolonged  agony,  unrelieved  by  the  companionship 
of  his  wife  and  children,  left  him  cheerful,  clear-eyed,  wholly  without 
self-pity,  calm  and  sane  in  his  determination  to  use  what  powers 
remained  to  him  for  the  completion  of  his  work.  What  is  more  re- 
markable still,  while  consciousness  remained  he  was  as  keenly  and 
unselfishly  interested  in  the  affairs  of  his  friends  and  as  little  prone 
to  concentrate  upon  himself  as  in  the  days  of  his  greatest  vigor. 

Beneath  McGee's  scientific  attainments  and  mental  power  lay  the 
nature  of  one  of  the  most  kindly  and  genial  of  men,  a  lover  of  his 
neighbor  as  himself,  full  of  that  finest  courtesy  which  is  never  out 
of  fashion.  His  invincible  serenity  of  soul  made  him  the  most  de- 
lightful of  companions,  and  gave  him  perfect  courage  to  speak  the 
truth  as  he  found  it.  He  was  a  great  gentleman. 


ACTION  OF  SOCIETIES  AND  ASSOCIATIONS 

REPRESENTATIVES  APPOINTED   TO  ATTEND   THE  Me  GEE 
MEMORIAL  MEETING 

American  Anthropological  Association — F.  W.  Hodge. 

American  Association  of  Museums — Frederick  L.  Lewton. 

American  Civic  Association — H.  K.  Bush  Brown,  Richard  B. 
Watrous. 

American  Forestry  Association — P.  S.  Ridsdale. 

American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers — J.  H.  Hanna,  E.  B. 
Rosa. 

American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers — William  H.  Bixby, 
Calvin  W.  Rice,  Joseph  A.  Holmes. 

Anthropological  Society  of  Washington — D.  S.  Lamb,  Donnel  F. 
Hewitt,  Daniel  Folkmar. 

Biological  Society  of  Washington — F.  H.  Knowlton. 

Chemical  Society  of  Washington— F.  W.  Clarke,  Wm.  Blum,  F. 
K.  Cameron,  W.  F.  Hildebrand. 

Columbia  Historical  Society — Theodore  W.  Noyes,  W.  B.  Bryan, 
M.  I.  Weller. 

Explorers  Club — Robert  E.  Peary,  D.  L.  Brainard,  Henry  Bre- 
voort  Kane. 

Lakes  to  the  Gulf  Deep  Waterways  Association — W.  K.  Kavanaugh, 
G.  A.  Buder,  Edwin  S.  Munroe,  Major  Wood,  T.  Edward  Wilder, 
E.  S.  Conway,  Wm.  F.  Bourland,  Wm.  H.  Russe,  W.  M.  Kavanaugh, 
Geo.  B.  Logan,  John  F.  Messmore,  J.  F.  O.  Reller,  Arthur  Leach,  E. 
H.  Deffebaugh,  Lyman  E.  Cooley,  H.  H.  Walker,  Alex.  Y.  Scott, 
James  S.  Warren,  H.  F.  Auton. 

National  Conservation  Association — Herbert  A.  Smith,  Philip  P. 
Wells,  H.  A.  Slattery. 

National  Conservation  Congress — Thomas  R.  Shipp. 

National  Rivers  and  Harbors  Congress — Thomas  Wilkinson,  S.  A. 
Thompson,  M.  I.  Weller,  Perry  A.  Randall,  J.  M.  Goulden,  Howell 
M.  Miller,  George  Ward  Cook,  John  I.  Martin. 

25 


26  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

Philosophical  Society  of  Washington  -L.  A.  Bower,  J.  H.  Gore,  C. 
K.  Wead. 

Sequoya  League— Alice  C.  Fletcher,  F.  W.  Hodge,  C.  Hart  Mer- 
riam. 

State  Historical  Society  of  Iowa — H.  M.  Towner. 

Upper  Mississippi  River  Improvement  Association — Thomas  Wil- 
kinson. 

MEMORIAL  RESOLUTIONS 

From  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science: 

WHEREAS,  Death  has  deprived  us  of  our  highly  honored  fellow 
worker,  and 

WHEREAS,  Doctor  Me  Gee  had  always  shown  a  deep  interest  in 
the  work  of  the  Academy  and  was  at  all  times  ready  to  cooperate  in 
the  advancement  of  its  purposes,  and 

WHEREAS,  The  Academy  constantly  benefited  by  his  wise  judg- 
ment and  constructive  suggestions; 

Therefore  be  it  Resolved,  That  the  Academy  herewith  express  its 
sense  of  loss  at  the  death  of  Doctor  McGee  and  its  deep  appreciation 
of  the  services  which  he  rendered  in  furtherance  of  its  activities,  and 
record  the  same  on  the  minutes  of  the  organization,  and 

Further  be  it  Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  this  resolution  be  forwared  to 
the  family  of  the  deceased. 

From  The  American  Association  of  Museums: 

WHEREAS,  The  late  W  J  McGee  was  a  charter  member  of  the 
American  Association  of  Museums  and  contributed  materially  to  its 
early  organization;  therefore 

Be  it  Resolved,  That  the  American  Association  of  Museums  desires 
to  record  its  keen  sense  of  the  loss  which  the  Association  and  the 
museum  interests  of  this  country  have  sustained  in  the  death  of  W 
J  McGee;  and  further 

Be  it  Resolved,  That  the  American  Association  of  Museums  accept 
the  invitation  of  the  McGee  Commemorative  Committee  of  the 
Washington  Academy  of  Sciences  to  be  represented  at  the  special 
meeting  to  be  held  on  the  evening  of  December  5  in  commemoration 
of  the  late  W  J  McGee;  and  that  the  Secretary  be  authorized  to 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY   OF   SCIENCES  27 

invite  Doctor  Richard  Rathbun  to  attend  as  the  representative  of 
the  Association,  or  to  secure  the  attendance  in  his  stead  of  a  member 
of  the  staff  of  the  National  Museum  who  is  also  a  member  of  this 
Association. 

From  the  Archaeological  Institute  of  America: 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Washington  Academy  of  Sciences  in  com- 
memoration of  the  late  W  J  McGee  the  Washington  Society  of  the 
Archaeological  Institute  of  America,  as  an  affiliated  society  of  the 
Academy,  desires  to  express  its  deep  sense  of  indebtedness  to  Doctor 
McGee  as  one  of  its  charter  members  and  officers. 

Professor  McGee  was  one  of  the  twenty  gentlemen  who  signed  the 
call  for  the  meeting  at  which  our  Society  was  organized,  Monday, 
May  7,  1902. 

He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  original  Executive  Committee 
and  continued  to  serve  until  he  left  Washington  for  St.  Louis  in 
1903.  He  also  represented  the  Washington  Society  in  the  Council 
of  the  Archaeological  Institute  for  the  years  1903-05,  and  was  during 
this  period  a  Vice  President  of  the  Institute. 

From  the  Council  of  Chiefs  of  the  St.  Louis  Exposition: 

WHEREAS,  Our  highly  esteemed  co-laborer  and  very  dear  friend, 
Doctor  W  J  McGee,  Chief  Department  of  Anthropology,  Universal 
Exposition,  St.  Louis,  U.  S.  A.,  1904,  has  been  removed  from  our 
circle  by  death,  and 

WHEREAS,  The  eminent  services  of  Doctor  McGee  in  assembling 
and  installing  an  exhibit  of  rare  excellence  and  exceptional  scientific 
value  at  the  St.  Louis  Exposition  entitle  his  memory  to  due  recogni- 
tion, and 

WHEREAS,  His  researches  and  writings  in  his  chosen  line  of  investi- 
gation before  and  since  the  Exposition  are  deserving  of  especial  com- 
mendation of  scientists,  and 

WHEREAS,  The  members  of  the  Council  of  Chiefs  so  long  and  so 
closely  associated  with  Doctor  McGee  during  the  Exposition  are 
deeply  afflicted  in  his  decease;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  By  the  members  of  the  Council  of  Chiefs  of  the  Universal 
Exposition  held  in  St.  Louis  in  1904,  that  we  learn  with  much  sorrow 


28  McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

of  the  death  of  our  most  worthy  co-laborer,  Doctor  W  J  McGee, 
Chief  Department  of  Anthropology; 

Resolved,  That  we  individually  and  as  members  of  the  Council  of 
Chiefs  of  said  Exposition,  esteem  it  a  great  privilege  to  bear  testi- 
mony to  the  excellence  of  character,  the  spirit  of  loyalty  to  friends, 
the  devotion  to  the  highest  ideals,  that  made  Doctor  McGee  such  an 
esteemed  friend  and  pleasant  associate; 

Resolved,  That  the  family  and  friends  of  our  esteemed  co-laborer  be 
assured  of  the  fullest  measure  of  our  sympathy  in  his  death; 

Resolved,  That  the  above  resolutions  be  spread  upon  the  records  of 
this  Council  and  a  copy  sent  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

From  the  International  Irrigation  Congress: 

WHEREAS,  On  September  4,  1912,  Doctor  W  J  McGee,  formerly 
one  of  our  board  of  governors,  executive  committeeman,  and  active 
member,  passed  away, 

Be  it  Resolved,  That  this  Twentieth  International  Irrigation  Con- 
gress record  in  sorrow  its  high  appreciation  of  the  work  and  charac- 
ter of  the  late  W  J  McGee,  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of  Conservation 
and  its  practical  application  in  irrigation  and  forestry,  and  an  active 
worker  in  support  of  the  Congress.  His  example  of  industry  and  de- 
votion to  scientific  research  in  ascertaining  the  truth  afford  an  ex- 
ample to  all  who  are  working  for  the  public  welfare.  We  sincerely 
deplore  his  loss. 

From  the  Lakes- to-the- Gulf  Deep  Waterway  Association: 

Doctor  W  J  McGee  was  a  man  of  many  parts. 

He  was  best  known  and  understood  among  his  coadjutors  in  the 
domain  of  scientific  research. 

He  was  likewise  recognized  and  appreciated  by  that  large  body  of 
people  concerned  in  the  conservation  of  our  natural  resources. 

He  had  singular  aptitude  in  developing  and  expounding  the  prin- 
ciples of  water  conservation  and  in  their  practical  application  to  the 
problem  of  transportation.  He  regarded  a  river  system  as  a  unit 
from  source  streams  to  the  sea;  and  that  its  problems  should  be  treated 
as  a  whole,  so  as  to  develop  in  one  solution  all  the  collateral  utilities 
— not  only  regularity  in  flow  and  fixation  of  bed  and  banks,  but  also 
reclamation,  water  power,  and  sanitation. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  29 

Doctor  McGee  lost  no  opportunity  to  promote  and  broaden  the 
public  mind  respecting  sound  economic  principles  in  the  development 
of  our  water  resources,  and  he  was  a  persistent  attendant  and  partici- 
pant at  Waterway  and  Conservation  conventions. 

He  was  an  ardent  promoter  of  the  Lakes-to-the-Gulf  Deep  Water- 
way project,  and  joined  in  the  formation  of  a  program  for  the  largest 
possible  development  as  a  transportation  route,  coupled  with  recla- 
mation of  alluvial  lands,  the  development  of  water  power,  and  the 
solution  of  problems  of  the  public  health.  He  always  had  a  working 
part  in  our  conventions,  and  was  an  untitled  but  welcome  member 
in  our  Counsel  Board. 

The  annual  convention  of  the  Lakes-to-the-Gulf  Deep  Waterway 
Association,  held  at  Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  September,  19 12,  expressed 
its  regret  at  the  untimely  passing  of  Doctor  McGee  by  resolution 
hereto  appended. 

The  spirit  of  Doctor  McGee  will  go  forward  to  the  full  fruition  of 
his  work,  but  the  loss  of  a  friend  and  colleague — clear  of  brain  and 
with  persistent  purpose  and  courage,  in  the  pioneer  period  of  a  great 
enterprise — cannot  be  replaced. 

From  the  Seventh  Lakes-to-the-Gulf  Deep  Waterways  Convention: 

We,  the  delegates  of  this  Seventh  Lakes-to-the-Gulf  Deep  Water- 
ways Convention  duly  assembled,  in  appreciation  and  recognition  of 
our  own  great  loss  and  of  the  loss  to  our  cause  by  reason  of  the  recent 
taking  by  death  of  Doctor  W  J  McGee,  and  in  feeble  recognition  of 
his  services  as  a  friend  and  scientist,  do  declare: 

That  the  services  of  Doctor  W  J  McGee  to  science,  to  progress, 
and  to  the  enlightenment  and  welfare  of  humanity  have  rightly  earned 
for  him  the  respect  and  gratitude  of  his  fellow-men. 

In  particular  we  recognize  his  stimulating  and  broadening  influence 
in  the  establishment  of  a  sound  and  comprehensive  ideal  for  the  treat- 
ment of  our  waterways,  and  in  formulating  and  securing  public  recog- 
nition for  the  fundamental  truth  that  "every  river  is  a  unit  from  its 
source  to  its  mouth." 

We  recognize  also  his  vital  part  in  the  establishment  of  the  Inland 
Waterways  Commission,  as  secretary  of  which  he  was  instrumental 
in  laying  down  principles  and  policies  that  will  guide  and  control  the 


30  McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

utilization  of  the  rivers  in  the  United  States  for  many  years  to  come. 
The  appointment  of  the  Inland  Waterways  Commission  led  to  the 
voyages  of  two  Presidents  down  the  Mississippi  River  under  the 
auspices  of  this  Association  and  as  its  guests.  The  wide  and  benef- 
icent increase  of  public  interest  in  navigation  which  these  journeys 
produced  was  molded  largely  through  the  wise  guidance  of  Doctor 
McGee  into  a  national  policy  of  waterway  development.  Without 
Doctor  McGee's  participation  these  achievements  would  have  been 
impossible. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  great  meeting  of  Governors  in  the  White 
House  which  awakened  the  nation  to  the  impending  exhaustion  of 
its  natural  resources.  This  meeting,  doubtless  the  most  remarkable 
ever  held  in  the  White  House,  and  one  of  the  most  influential  in 
American  history,  was  in  its  conception  and  plan,  largely  the  work  of 
Doctor  McGee. 

Courteous,  modest,  eager  for  the  success  and  recognition  of  others 
rather  than  himself,  Doctor  McGee  was  generous  beyond  measure 
in  giving  help  to  every  good  cause,  and  in  opening  the  resources  of 
his  marvelous  knowledge  and  his  powerfully  creative  mind  to  every 
fellow  worker. 

We  mourn  his  loss  both  personally,  and  because  he  was  the  bene- 
factor of  his  country  and  the  friend  of  every  effort  to  uplift  man- 
kind. 

We  rejoice  at  the  result  of  his  labors,  which  will  survive  to  benefit 
the  people  of  America  and  of  the  world  for  uncounted  generations. 

From  the  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Association: 

The  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Association  desires  to  express  its 
high  appreciation  of  the  services  of  the  late  Doctor  W  J  McGee. 
His  work  as  a  geologist,  and  especially  his  extensive  geological  survey 
of  northeastern  Iowa,  was  of  a  high  order  of  excellence  and  of  his- 
torical as  well  as  scientific  value.  As  an  anthropologist  and  eth- 
nologist he  contributed  largely  to  knowledge  concerning  the  Indian 
tribes  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  a  field  in  which  this  Association  has 
always  taken  a  great  interest.  Finally,  his  services  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  and  on  the  Inland  Waterways  Commission  can 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  31 

not  be  overestimated  in  their  importance  to  the  people  of  the  Middle 
West. 

Doctor  Me  Gee  was  generous  in  his  encouragement  of  this  Associa- 
tion in  the  work  which  it  has  endeavored  to  perform,  and  whenever 
possible  he  rendered  active  assistance.  In  May,  1910,  he  delivered 
before  this  Association  an  address  on  the  Conservation  of  Natural 
Resources  which  was  a  source  of  inspiration  as  well  as  of  information. 
The  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Association,  therefore,  recognizes 
in  the  death  of  Doctor  Me  Gee  a  distinct  loss  to  the  cause  which  this 
Association  represents. 

From  the  National  Conservation  Association: 

We  whose  names  are  hereunder  written,  having  been  appointed  to 
represent  the  National  Conservation  Association  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Washington  Academy  of  Sciences  on  December  5,  1913,  in  commem- 
oration of  the  late  Doctor  W  J  McGee,  and  desiring  to  make  fitting 
and  formal  record  of  our  action  to  that  end,  have  adopted  the  fol- 
lowing minute,  and  request  that  it  be  entered  upon  the  records  of  the 
Washington  Academy  of  Sciences  on  behalf  of  the  National  Con- 
servation Association. 

Of  the  enduring  value  of  Doctor  McGee's  contributions  to  science 
through  the  study  of  primitive  men  and  institutions,  and  the  investi- 
gation of  the  structure,  history,  and  resources  of  the  earth  it  is  more 
fitting  that  others  speak.  It  is  our  privilege  to  remember  with  grati- 
tude the  patriot  and  lover  of  mankind,  whose  insight  perceived  the 
relation  of  such  studies  to  the  problem  of  present  and  future  human 
welfare,  whose  inspiration  applied  to  that  problem  the  scientific 
method  in  a  quantitative  measurement  of  the  natural  resources  which 
are  the  basis  of  the  life  of  all,  and  whose  soul  cried  out  for  the  equal 
participation  of  all  in  these  impartial  gifts  of  Nature.  We  honor  the 
statesman  whose  vision,  undimmed  by  political  traditions  or  super- 
stitions, foresaw  a  true  government  of  the  people  made  efficient  to 
achieve  general  welfare  for  the  people  by  the  extension  of  National 
power  to  all  National  ends,  and  by  a  trained  executive  free  to  serve 
the  people  and  responsible  only  to  them.  We  mourn  the  great- 
hearted leader  and  friend  whose  thought  was  always  of  the  work  in 


32  McGEE   MEMORIAL   MEETING 

hand,  never  of  the  honor  or  reward  due  to  himself.  We  revere  the 
man  who  met  death  with  serene  and  unconquerable  faith  in  the  ulti- 
mate and  enduring  victory  of  the  cause  of  humanity  for  which  his 
life  had  been  spent. 

[Signed]    HERBERT  A.  SMITH, 
PHILIP  P.  WELLS, 
H.  A.  SLATTERY. 

From  the  Fourth  National  Conservation  Congress: 

We  here  place  on  record  our  sense  of  the  deep  loss  by  the  country 
through  the  untimely  death  of  Doctor  W  J  McGee,  a  member  of  a 
Committee  of  this  Congress,  a  scientific  man  of  broad  attainment, 
and  of  the  widest  human  sympathy,  whose  helpfulness  in  these  Con- 
gresses and  many  similar  meetings  will  be  sadly  missed. 

From  the  National  Geographic  Society: 

The  National  Geographic  Society  wishes  to  express,  at  this  Memo- 
rial Meeting,  its  appreciation  of  the  scientific  ability  and  work  of  its 
former  President,  Doctor  W  J  McGee.  He  was  one  of  the  world's 
foremost  scientists,  and  his  investigations  covered  a  wide  range  of 
subjects.  As  geographer,  geologist,  and  ethnologist,  his  work  was 
masterly  and  his  contributions  to  these  sciences  were  among  the 
most  notable  of  his  time. 

In  geography,  his  interests  were  at  first  in  physical  geography,  or 
geomorphology.  They  are  so  numerous  and  varied,  that  it  is  possible 
to  mention  only  a  very  few.  One  of  the  most  important  of  his  works 
is  a  classification  of  topographic  forms  by  genesis,  published  as  a  brief 
brochure  in  the  first  number  of  the  National  Geographic  Magazine. 

It  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  separate  McGee's  geographic 
work  from  his  geologic  work,  since  they  were  often  carried  on  together, 
the  one  aiding  and  supplementing  the  other.  Thus,  he  discovered 
that  geologic  history  could  in  many  cases  be  read  from  topographic 
forms,  and  in  his  work  upon  the  Coastal  Plain  he  used  this  means 
extensively  in  unraveling  the  geology. 

He  early  studied  glacial  erosion  and  deposition,  and  many  of  the 
now  well  known  and  basic  facts  regarding  the  work  of  glaciers  were 
first  developed  by  him,  including  peculiarities  of  forms  of  moraines, 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  33 

the  formation  of  cirques,  rock  basins,  U-shaped  valleys,  and  hanging 
valleys.  Indeed,  the  discovery  of  the  significance  of  the  "Hanging 
Valley"  was  a  very  important  contribution  to  the  science  of  glaciology, 
completely  demonstrating,  as  it  does,  the  power  of  glaciers  to  erode, 
and  even  measuring  the  minimum  amount  of  erosion.  He  also  dis- 
covered a  method  of  determining  the  direction  of  ice  flow,  without 
depending  upon  glacial  striae. 

While  McGee's  contributions  to  pure  science  were  many  and  great, 
his  work  upon  the  applications  of  science  to  man's  well-being  were 
none  the  less  notable.  Among  these  were  his  studies  of  the  water 
resources  of  the  country,  with  reference  to  navigation,  irrigation,  and 
domestic  supply.  These  led  to  his  appointment  as  a  member  and  the 
Secretary  of  the  Inland  Waterway  Commission. 

His  work  in  all  these  various  lines  of  scientific  activity  led  up  nat- 
urally to  the  idea  of  Conservation.  Of  this  movement  he  was  one  of 
the  originators,  and  he  was  one  of  the  chief  members  of  the  Conser- 
vation Commission — created  by  President  Roosevelt — and  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  section  devoted  to  Water  Resources.  His  work  on  this 
Commission  formed  a  fitting  climax  to  his  very  useful  life. 

From  the  Papyrus  Club  of  Saint  Louis : 

The  late  Doctor  W  J  McGee,  first  Vice-President  of  the  Papyrus 
Club  of  Saint  Louis,  in  the  administration  of  Doctor  Alexander  N. 
DeMenil,  contributed  much  to  the  advancement  of  our  organization 
on  the  scientific  side  of  our  endeavors.  His  several  essays  and  ad- 
dresses on  archaeology  and  kindred  subjects  were  marked  by  original 
thought,  and  his  discourses  on  popular  topics,  of  which  he  possessed 
an  inexhaustible  fund,  were  invariably  profitable  and  pleasing  to 
our  members  and  invited  guests.  His  prominent  activity  in  Saint 
Louis  educational  movements  redounded  greatly  to  our  advantage, 
and  we  recall  all  these  efforts  in  our  behalf  and  that  of  the  general 
Saint  Louis  public  with  feelings  of  gratitude.  We  early  learned  to 
appreciate  the  fact  that  in  Doctor  McGee  we  had  a  collaborator  capa- 
ble of  advancing  the  cause  of  popular  science  in  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try, an  investigator  and  expert  in  research  such  as  we  have  not  had 
since.  His  free  mind  and  warm  heart  endeared  him  to  all  with  whom 
he  came  in  contact.  When  he  was  called  to  a  more  promising  field'  in 


34  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

Washington  we  rejoiced  that  a  fairer  estimate  of  his  abilities  would 
speedily  come  to  him,  and  in  this  we,  in  conjunction  with  hosts  of 
friends,  were  not  disappointed. 

From  the  Sequoya  League: 

The  Sequoya  League,  "To  Make  Better  Indians,"  begs  to  add  its 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  W  J  McGee,  who  was  one  of  its  Advisory 
Board  from  its  foundation  until  his  death. 

Its  work  for  "making  better  Indians"  by  treating  them  better,  was 
earnestly  and  effectively  assisted  by  Doctor  McGee,  and  his  counsels 
and  assistance  were  valued  and  effective.  His  own  large  nature, 
simple  and  unspoiled  as  that  of  the  aborigines;  his  own  character  and 
achievement,  almost  as  self-made;  the  gentleness  of  his  heart;  the 
directness  and  justness  of  his  mind;  the  practical  common  sense  gained 
by  his  experience;  his  knowledge  of  the  needs  of  the  Indian,  earned 
by  experience  and  hardship  in  the  field — all  these  made  him  one  of 
the  most  valued  of  our  advisers. 

We  feel  that  his  death  was  a  loss  not  only  to  American  science  but 
to  philanthropy,  and  the  Sequoya  League  earnestly  desires  to  join  in 
whatever  tribute  of  affection  and  respect  may  be  paid  to  his  memory. 

From  the  Society  of  American  Indians: 

Resolved,  That  the  Society  of  American  Indians  register  its  sorrow 
over  the  death  of  our  departed  friend  and  fellow  member,  Doctor  W 
J  McGee,  who  departed  this  life  during  the  current  year,  and  that 
we  deplore  the  loss  to  the  Indian  race  and  to  anthropological  science 
of  so  enthusiastic  a  student.  In  this  loss  of  a  friend  and  fellow  mem- 
ber we  are  consoled  by  the  fact  that  the  efforts  of  his  life  have  proven 
an  inspiration  to  many  students  of  the  race,  and  we  feel  sure  that  the 
results  of  his  labors  will  live  for  many  years  to  come.  May  he  find 
eternal  peace  in  the  up-above  world  where  both  scientist  and  savage, 
who  have  wrought  well,  may  greet  each  other  as  fellows  with  a  com- 
mon interest. 

From  the  Washington  Anthropological  Society: 

The  interest  that  Doctor  McGee  had  in  anthropology  seems  to 
have  been  aroused  during  a  topographical  and  geological  survey 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  35 

that  he  made  in  northeastern  Iowa  during  the  years  1877  to  1881. 
In  1878  he  published  his  first  paper  on  an  anthropological  subject. 
It  was  entitled  "On  the  artificial  mounds  of  northeastern  Iowa  and 
the  evidence  of  the  employment  of  a  unit  of  measurement  in  their 
erection."  In  the  same  year  at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advance  of  Science  at  St.  Louis  he  presented  a  paper 
"On  an  anatomical  peculiarity  by  which  crania  of  the  mound  build- 
ers may  be  distinguished  from  those  of  the  modern  Indians." 

July  1,  1893,  he  became  connected  with  the  Bureau  of  American 
Ethnology,  Major  J.  W.  Powell  being  the  Director.  In  1894  Doctor 
McGee  was  made  Ethnologist-in-charge,  and  at  once  instituted  re- 
searches concerning  the  relation  of  primitive  arts  and  institutions  to 
environment.  He  continued  in  charge  of  the  Bureau  until  1903,  a 
period  of  ten  years  and  ten  months,  and  during  this  time  he  did  a 
great  part  of  the  administrative  work.  During  the  several  trying 
years  of  Director  Powell's  illness,  Doctor  McGee  did  practically  the 
whole  of  the  administrative  work,  and  at  the  time  of  Powell's  death, 
McGee  was  Acting  Director.  It  may  be  said  that  in  preparing  the 
characterizations  of  the  papers  that  appeared  in  the  reports  of  the 
Bureau,  he  applied  the  principles  of  psychology  to  the  current  re- 
searches of  the  office.  He  was  a  past  master  in  apprehending  the 
trend  and  significance  of  human  activity. 

Besides  the  administrative  work  of  the  Bureau,  he  made  extensive 
field  researches  in  northwestern  Mexico,  in  Tiburon  Island,  in  Ari- 
zona, in  New  Mexico,  in  California,  in  Iowa,  and  elsewhere,  col- 
lecting ethnological  and  archaeological  data.  During  the  years  1894 
and  1895  he  made  a  study  of  the  Indians  of  Tiburon  Island  in  the 
Gulf  of  California,  and  the  adjacent  coast  of  Sonora;  recording  a 
large  body  of  linguistic  material  of  the  Seri,  Papago  and  Cocopa  In- 
dians. He  made  the  only  scientific  expedition  to  Tiburon  Island  that 
has  ever  been  attempted,  and  prepared  a  topographical  map  of  the 
island.  Some  of  the  results  of  these  researches  have  been  published; 
others  have  not.  Based  chiefly  on  the  material  gathered  by  the  late 
J.  Owen  Dorsey,  McGee  prepared  a  memoir  on  the  Siouan  Indians  to 
serve  as  an  introduction  to  Dorsey's  "Siouan  Sociology;"  and  based 
on  a  series  of  Peruvian  trephined  skulls  collected  by  Dr.  M.  A.  Muniz 
of  Peru,  McGee,  in  conjunction  with  Muniz,  published  a  descriptive 
paper.  McGee  also  published  a  paper  on  "Primitive  Numbers,"  the 


36  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

result  of  which  was  that  Cornell  College  of  Iowa,  in  1901,  conferred 
on  him  the  degree  of  LL.D. 

He  resigned  from  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  July  31,  1903,  to  take 
charge  of  the  Department  of  Anthropology  of 'the  Louisiana  Exposi- 
tion held  in  St.  Louis.  He  was  also  active  in  organizing  the  World's 
Congress  of  Arts  and  Sciences  in  1904,  of  which  he  was  the  senior 
speaker  in  the  Department  of  Anthropology. 

The  date  that  Doctor  McGee  joined  the  Anthropological  Society 
of  Washington  cannot  at  present  be  given;  some  records  of  the  So- 
ciety have  been  mislaid.  He  was  first  elected  a  member  of  the  Coun- 
cil January  21,  1890,  and  was  reflected  many  times  afterwards.  He 
attended  the  meetings  of  the  Society  quite  regularly  and  took  part 
in  the  discussions.  He  always  spoke  to  the  point  and  concisely  and 
his  remarks  were  listened  to  with  marked  attention. 

He  was  President  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Washington  from 
1898  to  1900.  In  1902  he  was  foremost  in  founding  the  American 
Anthropological  Association,  of  which  he  was  the  first  President. 
When  the  American  Anthropologist  was  established  in  1899,  he  was 
one  of  the  constructive  owners,  sharing  its  financial  responsibilities, 
before  it  came  under  the  control  of  the  American  Anthropological 
Association. 

McGee's  conception  of  anthropology  was  broad;  he  closely  followed 
Major  Powell,  and  like  him  loved  to  philosophize.  Perhaps  it  might 
be  said  that  McGee's  mind  was  essentially  synthetic  rather  than 
analytic. 

No  small  part  of  McGee's  administrative  success  lay  in  his  implicit 
faith  and  trust  in  his  co-workers  and  subordinates  in  office,  which  nat- 
urally inspired  them  to  put  forth  their  highest  endeavor,  and  gained 
for  him  their  affection;  he  saw  only  the  best  in  those  with  whom  he 
associated.  He  believed  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  ideals  of 
human  yearning  and  endeavor.  He  was  also  sensitively  responsive 
to  every  demand  of  his  fellow-man,  either  for  time,  for  sympathy,  or  for 
money.  Herein  was  the  source  of  his  great  generosity  and  altruism. 
His  character  was  laid  along  universal  lines  rather  than  along  the 
path  of  selfish  narrowness  and  exclusiveness. 

He  was  a  man,  take  him  for  all  in  all, 
We  shall  not  look  upon  his  like  again. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  37 

BIBLIOGRAPHY— WASHINGTON  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  SOCIETY1 

On  an  anatomical  peculiarity  by  which  crania  of  the  mound  builders 
may  be  distinguished  from  those  of  the  modern  Indians.  Amer.  Jour. 
Med.  ScL,  1878,  xvi,  pp.  458-461. 

Report  of  the  Toronto  meeting  at  which  he  read  a  paper  on  "Some  prin- 
ciples of  evidence  relating  to  the  antiquity  of  man."  Proc.  A.  A.  A.  S., 
1889  (1890),  xxxviii,  p.  333,  also  American  Antiquarian,  1891,  xiii,  p.  69. 

An  obsidian  implement  from  pleistocene  deposits  in  Nevada.  Amer. 
Anthrop.,  1889,  ii,  p.  301,  paper  read  before  the  Anthrop.  Society  of  Wash- 
ington, Nov.  16,  1886. 

Conditions  of  accumulation  of  the  Trenton  gravels;  read  before  the 
Anthrop  Soc.  of  Washington,  Nov.  12,  1877;  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist., 
xxiii. 

Geologic  antecedents  of  man  in  the  Potomac  Valley;  read  before  the 
Anthrop.  Soc.,  Washington.  Amer.  Anthrop.,  1889,  ii,  p.  227. 

Comparative  chronology.     Amer.  Anthrop.,  1892,  v,  p.  327. 

The  Siouan  Indians;  a  preliminary  sketch.  15th  Annual  Report  Bureau 
Amer.  Ethnol.,  1893-1894  (1897),  pp.  153-204. 

Preface  to  John  Garland's  "The  Pamunkey  Indians  of  Virginia."  Bul- 
letin Bureau  Amer.  Ethnol.  No.  17,  1894. 

Prefatory  note  to  Cyrus  Thomas's  "The  Maya  year."  Bulletin,  etc., 
No.  18,  1894. 

The  earth,  the  home  of  man;  lecture  under  the  auspices  of  Anthrop.  Soc. 
Washington,  by  which  it  was  published,  1894,  28  pages. 

Report  of  Anthropology  at  the  Madison  meeting  of  the  A.  A.  A.  S.  Con- 
gress 1893,  at  which  he  read  a  paper  on  "Antiquity  of  man  in  America." 

The  remains  of  Don  Francisco  Pizarro,  Amer.  Anthrop.,  1894,  vii,  p.  1. 

The  Citizen;  a  prize  essay;  read  before  the  Anthrop.  Soc.,  Washington; 
Amer.  Anthrop.,  1894,  vii,  p.  352. 

Primitive  trephining;  illustrated  by  the  Muniz  Peruvian  collection. 
Johns  Hopkins  Hosp.  Bulletin  1894,  v,  p.  1;  also  in  16th  Annual  Report 
Bureau  Amer.  Ethnol.  (1894-1895)  1897,  xvi,  pp.  3-72. 

The  antiquity  of  our  Indians;  Epitome,  Washington,  1894,  1,  p.  1. 

The  beginning  of  agriculture.     Amer.  Anthrop.,  1895,  viii,  p.  350. 

Principles  of  nomenclature,  read  before  the  Anthrop.  Soc.,  Washington, 
Dec.  13,  1892.  Amer.  Antiquarian,  1895,  viii,  p.  279. 

The  relation  of  institutions  to  environment;  Smithsonian  Institute,  re- 
port for  1895. 

This  does  not  duplicate  bibliography  included  in  Doctor  Knowlton's  article,  pp.  76. 


38  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

Report  of  anthropology  at  the  Buffalo  meeting.     Amer.  Anthrop.,  1896, 
ix,  p.  315. 
<  The  beginning  of  marriage.     Amer.  Anthrop.,  1896,  ix,  p.  371. 

Expedition  to  Papagueria  and  Seriland.     Amer.  Anthrop.,  1896,  ix,  p. 
93;  also  in  Science,  1896,  iii,  p.  493;  and  Nat.  Geog.  Mag.,  1898.  ix,  p.  345. 

The  Seri  Indians,  17th  annual  report  Bureau  Amer.  Ethnol.,  1895- 

1896  (1898),  pp.  1-128  and  129-344. 

Primitive  numbers,  19th  annual  report  Bureau  Amer.  Ethnol.,  1897- 
1898  (1900),  pp.  821-851. 

Primitive  rope  making  in  Mexico.    Amer.  Anthrop.,  1897,  x,  p.  114. 
The  beginning  of  zooculture.     Same  jour.,  p.  215. 
The  science  of  humanity.     Same  jour.,  p.  241,  also  in  Proc.  A.  A.  A.  S. 

1897  (1898),  xlvi,  p.  293. 

Report  of  anthropology  at  Detroit  and  Toronto  meetings.  Amer. 
Anthrop.,  1897,  x,  p.  317. 

Anthropology  at  Ithaca.    Amer.  Anthrop.,  1898,  xi,  p.  15. 

A  muskwaki  bowl.     Same  jour.,  p.  88. 

Ponka  feather  symbolism.     Same  jour.,  p.  156. 

Ojibwa  feather  symbolism.     Same  jour.,  p.  177. 

Piratical  acculturation.     Same  jour.,  p.  243. 

The  course  of  human  development.     Forum,  1898,  xxvi,  p.  56. 

Thirst  in  the  desert.  Atlantic  Monthly,  1898,  Ixxxi,  p.  483;  also  in  Glo- 
bus,  Braunschweig,  1898,  Ixxiv,  p.  66. 

Anthropology  at  Columbus.    Amer.  Anthrop.,  1899,  1,  759. 

Beginning  of  mathematics.     Same  jour.,  pp.  646-674. 

Trend  of  human  progress.     Same  jour.,  p.  401. 

Anthropology  at  Baltimore.    Amer.  Anthrop.,  1900,  ii,  p.  765. 

Remarks  on  Frank  H.  Gushing.     Same  jour.,  p.  354. 

Man's  place  in  nature.    Amer.  Anthrop.,  1901,  iii,  p.  1;  also  in  Science, 
1901,  xiii,  p.  453. 
•  Obituary  of  G.  M.  Dawson.    Amer.  Anthrop.,  1901,  iii,  p.  159. 

Cocopa  Indians;  read  before  Anthrop.  Soc.,  Washington,  March  12, 
1901. 

Poisoned  arrows;  read  May  4,  1901. 

Anthropology  at  Pittsburgh.     Amer.  Anthrop.,  1902,  iv,  p.  464. 

The  wildest  tribe  in  North  America;  Seriland  and  the  Seri;  Land  of 
Sunshine,  Los  Angeles,  1901,  xiv,  pp.  364  and  463;  also  in  16th  annual  re- 
port Bureau  Amer.  Ethnol. 

Work  of  Bureau  Amer.  Ethnology.  Nat.  Geog.  Mag.,  1901,  xii,  p.  369; 
reprinted  from  Verhandlung  des  7th  International  Geog.  Congress,  Ber- 
lin, 1899. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  39 

Germe  Industrie  de  la  pierre  en  Amerique.  Bull,  and  Mem.  Soc. 
d'Anthrop.,  Paris,  1902,  iii,  p.  82. 

The  American  Anthropological  Association.     Science,  1902,  xvi,  p.  309. 

Cardinal  principles  of  science;  read  before  Anthrop.  Soc.,  Washington, 
Feb.  26,  1901. 

The  Indians  of  North  America  in  prehistoric  times,  by  Cyrus  Thomas; 
in  conference  with  W  J  McGee,  Philadelphia  (1903),  464  pages. 

Prehistoric  North  America,  by  W  J  McGee  and  Cyrus  Thomas,  Phila- 
delphia (1906),  485  pages.  (Half  title:  " The  History  of  North  America," 
by  Francis  N.  Thorpe,  vol.  19.) 

Conservation  in  the  human  realm.     Amer.  Anthrop.,  1910,  xii,  p.  81. 

Conditions  limiting  growth  of  population  in  United  States.  Amer, 
Anthrop.,  1911,  xiii,  p.  499;  also  in  Science,  Oct.  6,  1911,  p.  428. 

He  was  also  Editor  of  the  Departments  of  Anthropology  and  Ethnology, 
New  International  Encyclopedia  (1911)  edition. 


PERSONAL  ESTIMATES 

From  Rene  Bache,  of  Washington,  D.  C.: 

That  I  should  have  enjoyed  for  a  period  of  nearly  twenty-five  years 
not  only  the  friendship  of  Doctor  McGee,  but  also  his  confidence  and 
esteem,  is  to  me  a  matter  of  much  pride. 

He  was  the  only  man  I  have  ever  known  to  whom  I  could  go  and 
say  "Give  me  an  idea,"  with  a  confident  expectation  of  getting  one. 
He  would  treat  that  foolish  demand  with  seriousness,  and  often  would 
respond  with  a  suggestion  which  I  was  able  to  turn  into  money. 

The  ideas  Doctor  McGee  gave  me  put  thousands  of  dollars  into 
my  pocket.  I  used  to  tell  him  that  he  had  paid  for  the  second  story 
of  my  house  on  Q  street. 

This  amused  him.  He  was  also  amused  when  I  told  him  that  he 
never  could  say  a  thing  a  second  time  as  well  as  he  could  the  first. 

Let  me  explain  that  the  experienced  newspaper  man  rarely  takes 
the  trouble  to  put  down  verbatim  the  words  of  a  person  whom  he 
interviews.  What  he  wants  is  facts  and  ideas;  he  can  usually  write 
them  better  than  the  man  interviewed  can  talk  them.  But  with 
Doctor  McGee  it  was  different.  Not  to  take  him  verbatim  was  to 
lose,  so  to  speak,  the  efflorescence  of  his  discourse. 

I  am  not  a  stenographer,  and  so  I  could  not  always  keep  up.  I 
would  have  to  ask  him  to  repeat  a  sentence  which  he  just  uttered. 
But  he  never  could  put  the  matter  as  strikingly  a  second  time. 

This  was  characteristic  of  the  born  talker.  Doctor  McGee  wrote 
well,  but  he  talked  much  better  than  he,wrote.  The  task  of  compo- 
sition hampered  the  utterance  of  his  thoughts.  In  conversation  he 
would  seize  an  idea  and  give  it  a  twist  which  he  himself  a  moment 
later  could  not  reproduce. 

Doctor  McGee  never  lost  a  chance  to  help  me.  I  never  found  him 
so  busy  that  he  was  not  ready  to  put  his  work  aside  for  my  benefit. 
He  was  always  glad  to  help  other  people — believing,  as  he  did,  that 
the  object  of  existence  was  by  no  means  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  but 
rather  the  pursuit  of  usefulness.  It  was  not  merely  information  (full 

40 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  41 

as  he  was  of  it  on  an  amazing  variety  of  subjects)  that  he  had  to  com- 
municate. The  special  quality  of  his  discourse  was  that  it  was  illu- 
minative. When  he  talked,  it  was  as  if  he  lighted  a  candle  inside 
of  a  lantern. 

To  most  people,  things  assume  a  certain  appearance  because  they 
are  accustomed  to  be  seen  from  a  certain  standpoint.  But  Doctor 
McGee  was  intellectually  stereoscopic.  He  would  place  his  listener 
at  a  new  angle  with  the  subject  under  discussion,  whatever  it  might 
be — whereupon  it  assumed  an  entirely  new  and  surprising  aspect. 
Often  one  saw  it  for  the  first  time  as  it  really  was. 

What  we  call  "intellect"  is  understood  to  mean  a  superior  degree 
of  intelligence.  But  this  definition  I  hold  to  be  inadequate.  Intel- 
lect properly  signifies  a  distinct  plane  of  mentality. 

Who  would  think  of  referring  to  Doctor  McGee  as  a  "highly  in- 
telligent" man,  or  a  "very  clever"  man?  Such  terms  as  applied  to 
him  would  be  absurd.  He  was  something  entirely  different;  and  the 
difference  was  not  one  merely  of  degree,  but  of  kind. 

If  the  man  of  intellect  be  understood  to  represent  a  distinct  psychic 
type,  Doctor  McGee  was  obviously  a  most  striking  and  conspicuous 
example  of  that  type.  His  was  an  intelligence  raised  to  the  nth  power. 
It  was  of  a  quality  unapproached  save  by  a  few  individuals  in  each 
generation  of  the  world's  human  product. 

His  record  proved  him  a  man  of  undaunted  and  indomitable  pluck 
and  will-power — as  shown,  for  example,  on  the  occasion  of  his  won- 
derful journey  alone  across  a  waterless  desert  in  Sonora.  But  the 
same  quality  was  exhibited  even  more  strikingly  perhaps  during  the 
last  years  of  his  life,  when,  although  dying  by  inches  of  a  lingering 
and  hopeless  disease,  he  kept  steadfastly  on  with  his  work,  while  dis- 
playing the  unfailing  cheerfulness  under  adverse  circumstances  which 
is  at  once  the  highest  exhibition  and  the  best  proof  of  a  noble  courage. 

From  Doctor  H.  Foster  Bain,  of  San  Francisco: 

I  have  always  felt  that  I  owed  a  good  deal  to  the  kindly  interest  of 
Doctor  McGee  at  the  time  when  I  was  a  beginner. 

I  remember  especially  the  first  paper  I  presented  to  the  Iowa  Acad- 
emy of  Science.  I  suppose  one  always  remembers  his  first  scientific 
paper  with  especial  interest,  probably  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 


42  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

real  value  of  the  contribution.  In  those  days  I  knew  very  few  men 
in  the  scientific  world,  but  I  bravely  sent  out  my  little  pamphlet  to 
all  with  whom  I  could  by  any  chance  claim  acquaintance,  and,  among 
others,  to  McGee,  who  had  once  lectured  to  us  when  I  was  a  student 
at  Johns  Hopkins.  He  took  the  thing  as  seriously  as  though  it  had 
been  a  contribution  from  one  of  the  leaders  of  science,  and  wrote  me 
a  most  careful  and  critical  review  in  the  form  of  a  personal  letter,  at 
the  same  time  making  most  illuminated  and  suggestive  comment  that 
led  me  in  the  next  succeeding  years  into  a  very  fascinating  field  of 
physiographic  work.  Apparently,  to  McGee,  the  young  man  work- 
ing in  a  far  state  as  a  beginner  was  worth  time  and  thought;  and  I 
have  reason  to  believe  that  this  was  his  habit  of  mind,  and  that  many 
beginners,  as  well  as  myself,  have  him  to  thank  for  inspiration. 

Later,  as  with  Calvin  I  worked  over  the  Pleistocene  in  north- 
eastern Iowa,  I  realized  something  of  what  his  own  work  as  a  begin- 
ner had  been,  and  how  he  must  have  appreciated  any  help  which  came 
to  him  at  that  time.  He  really  did  a  great  piece  of  work  in  northeast- 
ern Iowa.  It  is  hard  to  realize  now  how  firmly  fixed  was  the  notion 
of  one  glacial  period.  In  the  area  in  which  McGee  studied,  there  are 
the  drift  sheets  of  three  well  defined  periods,  as  we  know  now.  He 
insisted  that  there  were  more  than  one  and  proposed  two  as  the  maxi- 
mum of  audacity.  Such  mistakes  as  he  made  were  due  mainly  to 
the  fact  that  he  wasn't  bold  enough  and  did  not  claim  more  than 
two.  It  was  because  he  tried  to  make  the  whole  scheme  fit  in  with 
this  that  he  missed  the  well-marked  and  extremely  significant  drift 
border  near  Iowa  City. 

I  saw  something  of  McGee  later  at  the  time  he  was  trying  so  hard 
to  build  up  a  museum  at  St.  Louis.  He  had  even  then,  although  a 
much  older  man,  a  tremendous  store  of  enthusiasm  and  energy,  and 
all  of  us  on  the  Illinois  Survey  who  came  in  contact  with  him  derived 
many  fruitful  suggestions  from  him. 

From  John  Barrett,  of  Washington,  D.  C.: 

I  knew  W  J  McGee  almost  intimately  for  many  years,  and  he  grew 
on  me  with  the  passing  of  time.  At  first  I  did  not  fully  understand 
him,  but  later,  when  I  came  under  the  influence  of  his  wide  knowledge 
and  his  sincere  enthusiasm,  I  realized  that  he  was,  indeed,  a  rare  man. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  43 

Particularly  was  I  impressed  with  his  sincerity  and  with  his  ability 
to  present  strong  arguments  in  favor  of  a  cause  in  which  he  was  in- 
terested. He  was  always  master  of  what  he  undertook  to  debate, 
and  he  was  a  dangerous  antagonist  for  the  superficially  informed. 
His  wide  acquaintance,  moreover,  all  over  the  land  enabled  him  to 
spread  his  influence  and  his  knowledge,  which  was  practical  and  ef- 
fective. When  he  was  taken  away,  not  only  science  but  the  people 
of  our  country  at  large  lost  one  of  their  ablest  and  truest  friends.  I 
am  glad  to  express  my  profound  regard  for  the  memory  of  this  re- 
markable man. 

From  George  Eames  Barstow,  of  Barstow,  Texas: 

Doctor  McGee  had  great  moral  courage.  The  question  with  him 
was  not  as  to  the  ultimate  effect  that  his  advocacy  of  any  given  cause 
should  have  upon  himself,  but  only  that  the  cause  nearest  his  heart 
should  succeed. 

My  relations  with  Doctor  McGee,  covering  many  years,  on  national 
efforts  for  conserving  our  National  Resources,  such  as  irrigation,  for- 
estry, deep  waterways  and  the  reclaiming  of  our  swamp  lands,  were 
most  intimate,  and  afforded  me  full  opportunity  to  analyze  his  char- 
acter. From  it  I  derived  great  satisfaction  and  strength.  His  inti- 
mate familiarity  with  precedent  and  custom  in  social  and  diplomatic 
affairs  was  of  great  value  in  shaping  the  course  of  wise  procedure  in 
all  our  Congresses  and  gatherings  for  the  promotion  of  the  public  wel- 
fare. His  minute  care  in  matters  of  detail  as  well  as  what  concerned 
broad  conduct  always  impressed  me,  and  contributed  in  large  degree 
to  the  great  success  that  obtained  in  our  endeavors.  His  unvarying 
readiness  for  full  and  friendly  conference  on  vital  issues  always  made 
him  suggestive,  but  with  due  regard  for  the  opinions  of  his  conferees. 

Doctor  McGee's  convictions  were  strong  and  his  action  pronounced 
on  the  lines  of  his  belief,  yet  his  conduct  was  tempered  by  true  modera- 
tion. I  could  not  pay  a  more  just  and  ideal  tribute  to  our  departed 
friend  than  by  saying  that  the  characteristic  in  his  life  which  most 
impressed  me  was  his  unselfish  devotion. 


44  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

From  Governor  N.  C.  Blanchard,  of  Louisiana: 

I  came  to  know  Doctor  McGee  first  in  connection  with  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  problem,  and  then  in  connection  with  the  movement 
for  the  Conservation  of  Natural  Resources. 

I  found  him  an  exceedingly  well  informed  and  resourceful  man. 
Indeed,  so  well  equipped  was  he  for  intelligent  discussion  and  consid- 
eration of  the  subjects  mentioned,  that  I  looked  upon  him  as  one  of 
the  country's  leading  experts  thereon.  His  knowledge  was  so  pro- 
found, and  so  well  digested  and  systemized  in  his  broad  and  compre- 
hensive mind,  that  he  was,  indeed,  in  respect  to  these  matters,  a  sci- 
entist. 

In  May,  1908,  President  Roosevelt  invited  all  the  Governors  of 
the  States  of  the  Union  to  meet  him  at  the  White  House  in  confer- 
ence over  the  vital  question  of  Conservation  of  the  Natural  Resources 
of  the  country.  The  Conference  lasted  three  days  and  attracted 
world-wide  attention. 

During  the  course  of  its  deliberations,  it  was  thought  advisable  to 
appoint  one  Committee  to  embody  in  a  report  or  Declaration  the 
conclusions  and  results  that  should  be  arrived  at  by  the  Conference, 
and  that  this  Committee  should  be  composed  of  five  Governors. 

Accordingly,  such  Committee  was  created,  and  President  Roose- 
velt named  as  the  Committee  the  following  Governors: 

Newton  C.  Blanchard,  of  Louisiana, 

John  Franklin  Fort,  of  New  Jersey, 

John  C.  Cutler,  of  Utah, 

James  O.  Davidson,  of  Wisconsin,  and 

Martin  F.  Ansel,  of  South  Carolina. 

At  the  Committee's  first  meeting,  Chairman  Blanchard  suggested 
that  a  sub-committee  be  appointed  to  prepare  the  report  or  declara- 
tion, to  be  afterwards  submitted  to  the  full  Committee  for  its  con- 
sideration, amendment,  and  adoption,  and,  in  that  connection,  stated 
that  if  the  work  of  preparing  the  draft  of  the  report  were  turned  over 
to  him,  he  would  call  to  his  assistance  Gifford  Pinchot  and  Doctor 
McGee,  both  of  whom  were  in  attendance  on  the  Conference.  Ac- 
cordingly the  Chairman  and  Messrs.  Pinchot  and  McGee  were  ap- 
pointed a  sub-committee  to  draft  the  report. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  45 

So  the  three  of  us  "put  our  heads  together/'  and  after  a  labor  of  a 
day  and  part  of  the  night,  there  was  brought  forth  the  draft  of  the 
report,  which  took  the  form  of  a  Declaration  of  views  and  recom- 
mendations by  the  Conference. 

The  next  day  the  full  Committee  adopted  the  report,  and  directed 
the  Chairman  to  report  the  same  to  the  Conference  as  a  Declaration 
on  Conservation  embodying  and  formulating  general  conclusions  on 
that  great  subject. 

This  was  accordingly  done,  and  after  the  reading  of  the  Declara- 
tion before  the  Conference,  and  debate  had  thereon,  the  report  of 
the  Committee  was  unanimously  adopted  amid  great  applause. 

Doctor  McGee's  services  in  preparing  the  Declaration  were  simply 
invaluable.  The  part  he  performed  in  this  work  greatly  elicited  my 
admiration,  and  my  association  in  it  with  him  and  with  Gifford  Pin- 
chot  led  to  ties  of  close  friendship,  and  is  to  me  one  of  the  most 
pleasant  episodes  and  reminiscences  of  my  life. 

Referring  to  the  Declaration  on  Conservation,  I  heard  President 
Roosevelt  declare,  in  an  address  before  a  distinguished  gathering  in 
Washington,  where  he  and  President-elect  Taft  were  the  speakers, 
that  it  was  so  important  a  work,  an  instrument  of  such  transcendent 
importance,  that  it  ought  to  be  framed  and  hung  in  every  school- 
house  in  the  land. 

Doctor  McGee  was  a  rare  character  on  the  good  and  useful  side  of 
life.  With  all  his  great  capabilities,  the  distinguishing  trait  of  his 
character  was  his  modesty  in  never  claiming  credit  for  himself,  no 
matter  how  much  he  had  contributed  of  origination,  ability,  resource- 
fulness, and  industry  to  any  work  of  broad  scope  and  far-reaching 
effect. 

His  was  a  gentle,  kindly,  lovable  disposition.  I  greatly  deplore 
his  death. 

From  J.  Stanley  Brown,  of  New  York  City: 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  have  known  Doctor  McGee  from  almost 
the  day  of  his  arrival  in  Washington  to  take  service  in  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey.  Then  and  there  sprang  up  a  warm 
friendship  which  continued  uninterruptedly  to  the  day  of  his  untimely 


46  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

death,  so  that  whatever  is  here  set  down  is  in  the  spirit  of  kindliest 
remembrance. 

Although  many  years  have  slipped  by  my  first  impressions  of  his 
personal  appearance  are  still  vivid.  His  most  conspicuous  outward 
characteristic  was  a  pleasing  manly  vigor,  indicative  of  abounding 
good  health  and  unusual  ability,  both  physical  and  mental.  By 
reason  of  this,  his  power  of  sustained  bodily  and  intellectual  effort 
endured  almost  to  the  end  of  his  career.  Eyes  and  complexion  were 
fresh  and  clear,  and  countenance  frank  and  open,  giving  every  evi- 
dence of  kindliness,  sincerity,  and  earnestness  of  purpose.  His  ever 
present  smile  was  genial  and  inviting. 

As  these  lines  are  written  a  delightful  picture  of  McGee,  mellowed 
by  time  and  affection,  arises  before  me.  It  was  soon  after  his  entrance 
on  his  duties.  On  a  beautiful  autumn  day  he  started  on  foot  to 
examine  the  geological  formations  of  the  upper  Potomac  River.  To 
him  there  was  no  inappropriateness  in  appearing  at  the  office  minus 
a  coat,  and  arrayed  in  outing  shirt  of  a  screamingly  brilliant  blue 
color,  while  a  new  and  shining  little  axe  dangled  from  the  back  buckle 
of  his  trousers.  This  startling  costume  was  crowned  with  a  black 
Alpine  hat  of  western  construction  and  ancient  vintage.  The  out- 
come was  a  cross  between  a  Baltimore  fireman  of  the  olden  days  and 
a  juvenile  camper  about  to  enter  upon  his  first  experience.  The  epi- 
sode nearly  caused  a  riot  of  interest  and  comment  among  the  members 
of  the  Survey,  but  many  of  us  who  smiled  can  recall  the  valuable 
contributions  he  made  to  the  unraveling  of  the  then  unknown  "  Coastal 
Plain  Geology"  of  the  Atlantic  Seaboard. 

The  kindliness,  wholesomeness,  and  sincerity  of  Me  Gee's  nature 
were  early  recognized  by  his  associates.  No  demand  on  him  was  so 
small  or  so  large  that  it  was  not  promptly  met,  and  he  gave  of  his 
best.  Always  the  subject  of  good-natured  friendly  chaffing,  it  was 
ever  taken  in  good  spirit.  There  was  never  resentment  or  ill  nature, 
and  never  was  there  heard  from  him  a  harsh  or  critical  personal  com- 
ment on  his  associates.  Apparently  there  was  no  place  for  such 
things  in  his  philosophy  of  life.  He  enjoyed  fun  and  social  inter- 
course, and  maintained  his  part  with  repartee  and  story,  but  never 
was  sarcasm  or  irony  employed,  nor  was  there  even  a  hint  of  care- 
lessness or  coarseness  in  conversation. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY   OF   SCIENCES  47 

Loyalty  was  part  of  his  creed,  whether  to  his  friends  or  to  what 
he  believed  to  be  the  fundamental  principles  of  life,  while  his  devotion 
to  the  development  of  scientific  knowledge  was  unsurpassed. 

He  brought  to  all  of  his  problems  intensity  of  concentration,  unu- 
sual industry,  and  very  clear  perception,  while  his  exceptional  powers 
of  expression  enabled  him  to  present  his  conclusions  in  the  most 
orderly  and  convincing  manner. 

When  the  Geological  Society  of  American  was  organized,  some 
twenty-seven  years  ago,  the  determination  of  the  form  of  publication 
of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  was  intrusted  to  McGee.  It  was  a 
most  laborious  and  difficult  task.  As  to  these  Proceedings,  I  made 
the  following  statement  on  the  occasion  of  the  twenty-fifth  anni- 
versary of  the  founding  of  the  Society: 

As  Minerva  sprung,  full  grown  and  completely  armored  from  the  brain 
of  Jupiter,  so  was  the  Society's  publication  created — a  model  of  form  and 
efficiency — by  the  sole  effort  and  peculiar  genius  of  one  of  the  most  compe- 
tent and  brilliant  scientific  minds  the  West  has  produced.  In  its  essential 
features  the  Bulletin  stands  today  as  it  did  at  the  time  of  its  creation. 

The  calm  courage  of  this  philosopher  was  revealed  to  me  a  few 
months  before  his  death.  In  one  of  my  infrequent  visits  to  Washing- 
ton I  met  him  at  the  Cosmos  Club,  and  as  always  we  sat  down  to- 
gether to  get  "caught  up."  He  then  told  me  of  the  malignant  dis- 
ease which  had  attacked  him,  and  of  his  recent  hospital  experience 
in  connection  therewith.  He  spoke  of  the  future,  and  with  a  sim- 
plicity and  serenity  I  have  never  seen  equaled  said,  "Well!  I  find  since 
my  resumption  of  my  active  work  that  my  productiveness  equals 
that  of  former  days,  and  if  the  operation  proves  a  success  all  will  be 
well.  If  not,  I  fear  it  will  be  a  short  story."  There  were  no  hero- 
ics, just  the  words,  spoken  with  dignity  and  courage,  of  a  brave  man 
who  knew  the  trick  fate  might  play  him.  It  proved  a  short  story, 
and  soon  there  crossed  the  "Great  Divide"  one  who  was  a  real  ex- 
ponent in  his  life  and  in  his  death  of  the  true  scientific  spirit.  Indif- 
ferent to  the  trivialities  of  life,  earnest  in  the  pursuit  of  Nature's 
truths,  sincere  in  his  collection  and  presentation  of  them  to  the  world, 
when  the  call  came  he  met  it  in  that  calm  confidence  which  comes 
from  a  realization  that  he  had  done  his  best,  and  that  all  was  well. 


48  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

From  Senator  Theodore  E.  Burton,  of  Ohio : 

I  knew  Doctor  McGee  intimately  and  would  have  considered  it  a 
privilege  to  testify  in  person  to  my  appreciation  of  his  life  and  work. 
All  his  scientific  attainments,  which  were  especially  marked  in  anthro- 
pology, geology,  and  hydrology,  were  utilized  for  practical  ends  and 
the  benefit  of  the  country  and  the  race.  A  man  of  remarkable  ver- 
satility and  of  big  ideas,  he  dwelt  not  in  the  past  but  in  the  future. 
He  drew  his  lessons  from  history,  but  he  made  them  an  inspiration 
for  coming  generations.  He  was  above  and  beyond  all  a  disciple  of 
practical  conservation,  a  believer  that  water  was  as  much  an  asset 
of  the  nation  as  the  land  or  as  the  minerals  beneath  the  land. 

It  is  frequently  said  that  the  influence  of  men  is  ephemeral,  and 
that  when  they  are  laid  away  they  are  soon  forgotten.  This  is  doubt- 
less true  of  the  majority  of  us,  but  the  name  and  work  of  such  men  as 
Doctor  McGee  will  endure  as  long  as  men  are  interested  in  science 
and  as  long  as  people  admire  the  work  of  genius. 

From  Doctor  Frank  R.  Cameron,  United  States  Bureau  of  Soils: 

I  first  met  Doctor  McGee  nearly  twenty  years  ago,  shortly  after 
my  arrival  in  Washington.  I  was  not  especially  drawn  to  him  then 
nor  for  some  years  later,  although  I  recognized  his  great  personal 
force.  I  greatly  admired  his  devotion  to  the  late  Major  Powell,  but 
first  became  really  interested  in  him  on  his  return  to  Washington  af- 
ter the  inauguration  of  the  "  Conservation"  movement.  We  became 
close  and  even  intimate  friends. 

My  strongest  recollection  of  Doctor  McGee  is  of  his  intense  devo- 
tion to  the  public  interest  and  keen  sense  of  personal  responsibility 
thereto.  Never,  I  think,  at  least  during  the  last  years  of  his  life 
when  I  was  privileged  to  know  him  well,  did  he  commit  himself  to 
even  a  trivial  act  without  more  or  less  carefully  considering  its  im- 
port on  the  public  welfare.  Certainly  he  never  failed  of  this  consid- 
eration in  his  conduct  of  his  official  work,  nor  was  any  one  with  whom 
he  was  brought  into  contact  allowed  to  ignore  or  forget  that  the  pub- 
lic interest  must  be  kept  paramount. 

Some  months  after  the  surgical  operation  he  underwent  in  the 
summer  of  1910  he  asked  me  to  come  to  his  office.  Although  at  the 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  49 

time  he  appeared  to  be  steadily  gaining  his  strength,  he  informed  me 
that  his  own  careful  observations  had  led  him  to  a  definite  conclusion 
as  to  how  long  he  had  to  live  and  how  many  months  of  effective  work 
were  left  to  him.  In  this  latter  estimate  especially,  his  prediction 
proved  remarkably  accurate.  He  then  outlined  to  me  his  tentative 
plans  for  the  best  utilization  of  his  time,  and  calmly  invited  my  criti- 
cisms. 

We  had  been  having  a  series  of  conferences  on  the  desirability  of 
inaugurating  some  experimental  work  on  mulching.  I  had  disagreed 
with  his  a  priori  reasoning  and  did  not  think  that  it  justified  the 
expense  incident  to  the  particular  experimentation  he  had  been  sug- 
gesting. This  I  knew  to  be  very  near  to  his  heart,  and  I  offered  to 
set  aside  my  own  judgment  and  hurry  the  experimentation  he  de- 
sired. He  declined,  however,  on  the  ground  that  as  I  alone  would 
be  able  to  use  the  results,  I  must  accept  alone  the  responsibility  for 
using  government  facilities  and  had  no  right  to  permit  my  judgment 
to  be  warped  or  biased,  even  by  the  wishes  of  a  dying  friend  and 
colleague. 

Next  in  vividness  is  my  recollection  of  his  unfailing  charity.  He 
could  and  did  dislike,  and  even  scorn,  ignoble  men  as  well  as  ignoble 
actions.  But  his  vision  was  clear,  backed  by  a  well  controlled  imag- 
ination, and  he  was  always  quick  to  see  the  good  in  men  and  their 
motives,  and  ready  to  credit  them  with  it.  He  gave  freely  and  with- 
out reserve  of  his  vast  learning  and  well  of  inspiration  to  others,  es- 
pecially to  men  of  the  younger  generations  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact.  Always  ready  to  listen  when  convinced  of  earnestness  of 
purpose,  he  was  a  patient  critic,  a  wise  and  considerate  counsellor. 

His  philosophy  was  very  puzzling  to  me.  He  was  frankly  an  ag- 
nostic. His  attitude  of  mind  was  to  accept  facts  for  exactly  what 
they  are,  together  with  such  correlations  only  as  could  not  reasonably 
be  doubted.  Yet  he  would  freely  argue  by  analogy  and  thus  be  led 
into  conclusions  diametrically  opposed  to  the  necessary  and  sufficient 
deductions  by  accepted  methods.  He  accepted  as  facts  many  ideas 
which  to  others  were  merely  speculations,  due,  I  think,  to  an  inher- 
ent repugnance  toward  laboratory-bred  ideas  as  compared  with  those 
developed  in  what  he  regarded  as  the  necessarily  broader  and  more 
comprehensive  vision  of  the  field  man.  His  concept  that  the  soil, 


50  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

because  of  its  complexity,  is  suborganic,  led  him  to  attribute  to  it 
characteristics  of  living  organisms.  Although  flatly  denying  to  water 
any  constitution  that  would  involve  a  sensory  system,  he  still  stoutly 
maintained  that  water  could  and  does  exercise  a  preference  to  be  in 
the  liquid  phase,  and  never  would  he  admit  that  liquid  water  is  more 
common  to  human  experience  than  vapor  or  ice  simply  because  it 
is  the  stable  phase  at  ordinary  temperatures  and  pressures.  Always, 
he  held,  we  must  push  back  our  inquiries  another  step  into  the  un- 
known. Atomistic  concepts  appealed  to  him  far  less  than  those  of 
the  phenomenologist,  so  that  he  was  less  sympathetic  in  his  discus- 
sions with  chemists  and  physicists  than  with  experts  in  other  lines 
of  philosophic  enquiry. 

Great  as  was  McGee's  service  to  science  in  general,  he  left  but  com- 
paratively little  of  permanent  material  value  to  soil  enquiries.  Three 
problems  attracted  his  attention:  the  conservation  of  the  soil  water 
for  the  use  of  crops;  the  transport  of  soil  material,  or  soil  erosion; 
and  the  management  of  soils,  especially  the  theoretical  basis  for  the 
practice  of  mulching.  To  the  last  of  these  problems  he  gave  a  great 
deal  of  thought,  and  was  convinced  himself  that  the  principal  func- 
tion of  a  mulch  is  to  attract  moisture  from  the  air  so  that  it  could 
within  the  soil  pass  to  the  preferred  liquid  phase  and  there  perform 
its  normal  function  of  aiding  plant  growth.  To  the  first  and  second 
problems,  however,  he  lent  yeoman  service  by  pressing  them  upon 
public  attention,  formulating  them  in  terms  that  would  appeal  to 
the  imagination;  and  by  lending  the  weight  of  his  remarkable  per- 
sonality and  marvellous  diction,  forcing  their  importance  upon  the 
consciousness  of  all  thinking  men.  That  the  details  of  his  concepts 
of  the  mechanism  of  the  water  cycle  and  the  life  of  soils  as  subor- 
ganic entities  will  quickly  be  forgotten  detracts  not  at  all  from  the 
debt  we  owe  him,  in  broadening  our  vision  of  the  scope  of  the  con- 
servation ideal  to  include  our  greatest  material  heritage,  the  soils  of 
the  nation,  and  their  most  important  component,  the  soil  water. 

From  Professor  Collier  Cobb,  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina: 

I  never  knew  a  man  of  such  wide  and  varied  interests,  or  one  who 
possessed  more  accurate  and  detailed  information  about  them  all, 
and  always  in  relation  to  their  bearing  on  human  betterment. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  51 

Geologist  and  geographer,  archaeologist  and  anthropologist,  delv- 
ing in  the  past  while  working  always  at  the  task  that  lay  immedi- 
ately at  hand,  his  work  looked  ever  to  the  future,  making  him  our 
first  conservationist.  To  him  Mr.  Pinchot  owed  much  of  his  inspira- 
tion, and  President  Roosevelt  no  doubt  found  him  a  never  failing 
source  of  information  as  well  as  a  perpetual  inspiration. 

To  young  men  he  was  ever  a  helpful  friend,  and  there  are  some 
who  were  with  him  in  the  West  who  would  not  be  alive  today  had  it 
not  been  for  his  thoughtfulness  where  they  were  thoughtless.  And 
this  care  for  the  welfare  of  others  extended  even  to  the  savage  men 
among  whom  he  worked,  and  endeared  him  to  everyone  who  came 
in  contact  with  him. 

From  Dr.  N.  H.  Darton,  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey. 
A  Memorial  presented  to  the  Association  of  American  Geographers, 
December  28,  1912: 

In  the  death  of  W  J  McGee  science  has  been  deprived  of  one  of 
its  most  efficient  workers,  and  mankind  has  lost  a  vigorous  champion 
for  its  advancement.  Had  he  been  spared  to  us,  he  might  have  had 
many  more  years  of  continued  usefulness,  for  he  was  only  59  years  of 
age  and  in  most  respects  was  in  fine  physical  and  mental  condition. 
McGee  had  always  been  a  worker.  He  was  remarkable  for  the  uni- 
versality of  his  interests.  He  was  wonderfully  rich  in  ideas  pertain- 
ing not  alone  to  those  sciences  in  which  personally  he  was  most  in- 
terested but  also  to  the  broader  fields  of  general  culture  in  which  his 
companions  might  be  working.  A  man  of  enthusiastic  endeavor  him- 
self, he  was  bound  to  inspire  enthusiasm  in  an  honest  worker  in  any 
field. 

The  variety  of  interests  of  which  McGee  was  mentally  capable 
was  shown  by  a  very  early  versatility.  As  an  illustration  of  the 
latter  I  might  mention  that  he  had  a  large  share  in  the  great  con- 
servation movement,  and  was  one  of  the  principal  advisors  of  the 
National  Conservation  Commission. 

He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Dubuque  County,  Iowa,  April  17,  1853, 
of  Irish  parentage.  Excepting  a  short  attendance  at  the  county 
school  he  was  entirely  self-educated.  As  a  boy  he  had  much  to  do 
on  the  farm  but  gave  all  spare  time  to  study,  and  at  the  age  of  20  had 


52  McGEE   MEMORIAL   MEETING 

acquired  the  more  important  lines  of  information  usually  presented 
in  schools  and  colleges,  and  had  mastered  sufficient  law  to  practice 
in  the  justice's  courts  of  his  county.  With  some  instruction  from  a 
blacksmith  he  became  skilled  in  metal  working,  mainly  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  certain  agricultural  implements  which  he  invented. 
He  also 'learned  land  surveying,  and  at  the  age  of  22  or  23  he  began 
studying  geology.  He  became  so  deeply  engrossed  with  this  science 
that  he  soon  gave  most  of  his  time  to  it.  It  was  at  this  time  that  he 
commenced  his  elaborate  investigation  of  the  superficial  geology  of 
northeastern  Iowa,  and  the  preparation  of  the  topographic  base  for 
his  observations  then  was  his  first  geographic  work.  The  maps 
and  report  were  finally  published  by  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey. 

McGee's  first  work  for  the  government  was  on  the  building  stones  of 
Iowa  for  the  tenth  Census,  and  his  report  was  of  notable  excellence. 
From  1882  to  1893  he  was  geologist  on  the  United.  States  Geological 
Survey,  and  during  these  11  years  his  life  was  one  of  great  activity 
in  scientific  work.  He  traveled  extensively  in  field  work,  wrote  volu- 
minously, and  was  in  close  association  with  Director  Powell  in  the 
development  and  administration  of  the  survey.  A  summary  of  this 
work,  written  by  himself  when  he  left  the  survey  and  published  in  the 
fourteenth  annual  report,  shows  'the  extent  and  variety  of  his  occupa- 
tions in  the  11  years  of  service.  Of  course  it  does  not  indicate  his 
very  great  zeal  and  usefulness,  which  were  of  incalculable  value  at 
that  stage  of  the  survey's  development. 

His  first  assignment  was  to  assist  Russell  in  the  Lake  Lahontan 
investigation  where  he  proved  highly  efficient.  He  went  to  Wash- 
ington City  in  1883  and  Powell,  quickly  recognizing  his  ability,  kept 
him  there  for  much  of  the  time  in  the  following  years  to  assist  in  ad- 
ministrative matters.  He  aided  in  perfecting  cartographic  methods, 
served  on  the  correlation  board,  and  gave  much  attention  to  the 
classification  of  data  available  for  the  use  of  the  Survey.  He  com- 
piled maps  and  reports;  started  the  dictionary  of  formation  names 
and  the  thesaurus  of  American  formations,  and  he  represented  the 
Survey  at  the  Berlin  meeting  of  the  International  Geological  Con- 
gress. In  connection  with  his  study  of  cartographic  methods  Me  Gee 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  53 

prepared  a  number  of  geologic  maps,  largely  for  the  purpose  of  illus- 
trating the  Survey  scheme,  but  which  were  very  useful  compilations. 
The  first  of  these  was  the  geological  map  of  the  United  States  pre- 
pared with  the  assistance  of  Professor  C.  H.  Hitchcock,  and  pub- 
lished in  1885  in  the  fifth  annual  report.  It  was  on  the  scale  of  100 
miles  to  the  inch  and  very  beautifully  executed.  Another  edition  of 
this  map,  incorporating  results  of  a  large  amount  of  new  field  work, 
was  issued  in  1894  in  Part  2  of  the  fourteenth  annual  report. 

It  was  McGee's  instigation  and  zeal  that  led  to  the  preparation  of 
the  large  geological  map  of  the  state  of  New  York  which  was  the  first 
one  published  since  1844.  In  the  first  stage  of  this  work  McGee  and 
Hall  made  a  compilation  of  the  geology,  but  the  base  was  poor,  and 
the  information  that  could  be  placed  on  the  map  so  fragmentary  and 
indefinite  as  to  location  that  the  result  was  useless.  With  authority 
from  the  Director  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  a  new  base 
was  compiled  from  county  maps,  and  the  writer  was  transferred  to 
the  state  work  for  parts  of  two  seasons  to  map  boundaries  and  piece 
together  the  work  of  local  observers.  The  map  was  finally  published 
by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  in  cooperation  with  the  State. 
In  the  course  of  this  work  I  heard  from  Dr.  Hall  warm  praise  for 
McGee's  phenomenal  keenness  as  an  observer  and  his  great  ability  to 
grasp  the  problems  presented. 

Early  in  his  connection  with  the  Geological  Survey  McGee  was 
placed  in  charge  of  the  Potomac  Division  of  Geology,  which  was  cre- 
ated to  study  the  region  contiguous  to  the  basin  of  Potomac  River, 
but  the  area  was  finally  extended  to  comprise  all  of  the  middle  and 
southern  Atlantic  coast  province.  He  accomplished  considerable 
field  work  himself  in  many  portions  of  this  area  and  directed  the  op- 
erations of  a  number  of  other  investigators.  Among  the  latter  were 
Dr.  G.  H.  Williams  on  the  crystalline  rocks  of  the  Piedmont  slope; 
Dr.  J.  A.  Holmes,  Dr.  W.  B.  Clark,  R.  H.  Loughridge,  and  N.  H.  Dar- 
ton  on  the  Mesozoic  and  Cenozoic  geology  of  the  Atlantic  coastal  plain; 
and  Dr.  E.  A.  Smith,  L.  C.  Johnson,  and  Dr.  E.  W.  Hilgard  on  the 
formations  of  the  Gulf  region  and  Mississippi  embayment.  He  also 
had  charge  of  work  by  Hay  in  Kansas  and  of  Dr.  Phinney's  investi- 
gation of  the  gas  in  Indiana.  At  the  time  of  the  Charleston  earth- 


54  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

quake  McGee  was  sent  at  once  to  the  scene  of  the  disaster,  and 
he  obtained  a  large  number  of  data  used  later  by  Button  in  his 
report. 

McGee's  principal  fields  of  personal  investigation  in  geology  were 
northeastern  Iowa  and  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  Coastal  Plain.  He  also 
assisted  Russell  in  the  Lake  Lahontan  work  and  made  a  survey  of 
part  of  Macon  County,  Missouri.  His  work  in  northeastern  Iowa, 
which  covered  an  area  of  20,000  square  miles,  was  done  privately  as 
already  stated,  before  he  became  a  member  of  the  Geological  Survey, 
although  some  supplemental  work  and  the  publication  of  the  report 
were  at  governmental  expense.  In  the  Coastal  Plain  his  observations 
were  mainly  from  Maryland  southward,  and  while  some  of  the  minor 
details  of  the  classification  and  identification  of  deposits  may  not 
be  verified  at  every  point,  the  differentiation  of  the  Potomac,  Lafay- 
ette, and  Columbia  formations  was  one  of  the  most  important  geo- 
logic contributions  we  have  had.  It  matters  but  little  whether  or 
not  the  type  locality  of  the  Lafayette  proves  to  be  valid  and  that 
some  marginal  red  sands  are  Eocene,  for  McGee  made  a  master  stroke 
in  recognizing  the  fact  that  our  coastal  plain  is  covered  by  a  wide- 
spread mantle  of  littoral  deposits  representing  Pliocene  time.  It  was 
recognized  over  an  area  of  300,000  square  miles  and  was  of  greatest 
significance  in  the  history  of  the  continent.  McGee's  first  name  for 
this  formation  was  the  Appomattox,  and  its  correlation  with  Lafay- 
ette was  a  later  idea.  When  I  began  my  association  with  McGee 
this  formation  had  not  been  recognized  north  of  the  James  River,  but 
I  found  that  it  extended  across  Virginia  and  Maryland,  and  some 
outliers  remained  in  New  Jersey.  The  Potomac  formation  has  proven 
to  comprise  a  group  of  stratigraphic  units  varying  in  range  in  different 
regions,  but  widely  separated  from  the  Newark  group  below  and  from 
the  marine  Cretaceous  above.  It  included  the  deposit  which  I  sepa- 
rated later  as  Magothy  formation  but  aside  from  this  it  remains  as  a 
distinct  group. 

The  recognition  of  the  Columbia  formation  was  of  great  signifi- 
cance to  geography  as  well  as  to  geology.  It  was  correlated  with 
the  earlier  glacial  deposits  and  found  to  cover  nearly  150,000  square 
miles  of  the  coastal  plain.  Its  topography  and  components  have  most 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  55 

important  bearing  on  the  physiographic  conditions  of  the  early  Pleis- 
tocene time  in  the  region  south  of  the  glacier. 

For  many  years  I  was  intimately  associated  with  McGee  in  the 
Geological  Survey  under  Powell,  and  I  wish  I  could  pay  an  adequate 
tribute  to  the  value  of  his  influence  to  me  and  to  many  other  asso- 
ciates in  those  early  days  of  the  organization.  He  had  marvelous 
ability  to  appreciate  all  bearings  of  an  investigation  and  to  make  far 
reaching  and  important  suggestions.  His  willingness  to  assist  in 
guiding  the  policy  and  conduct  of  all  lines  of  the  survey  work  made 
him  a  most  important  member  of  the  organization  in  those  days. 
This  was  fully  appreciated  by  Major  Powell,  who  brought  McGee 
into  intimate  association  in  all  administrative  matters,  and  his  genius 
had  much  to  do  with  shaping  survey  methods.  He  became  a  close 
personal  friend  of  the  Major's,  and  the  two  spent  much  time  together. 

McGee  left  the  Survey  with  Major  Powell  at  the  time  when  the 
Major  turned  the  great  bureau  over  to  the  directorship  of  Mr.  Wal- 
cott.  McGee  then  became  Powell's  Chief  Ethnologist  in  the  Bureau 
of  Ethnology,  a  position  which  opened  up  to  him  lines  of  investiga- 
tion which  were  very  congenial.  On  the  death  of  Major  Powell,  in 
1902,  McGee  continued  with  the  bureau  as  acting  director,  but  in  July, 
1903  on  account  of  disfavor  of  S.  P.  Langley,  Secretary  of  the  Smith- 
sonian, he  severed  his  connection.  This  was  generally  regarded  as  a 
most  unfortunate  circumstance,  as  undoubtedly  McGee  would  have 
accomplished  a  very  large  amount  of  ethnological  work  of  greatest  in- 
terest and  value  if  he  had  continued  as  director  of  the  bureau.  How- 
ever, he  left  to  accept  the  position  of  Chief  of  the  Department  of 
Anthropology  at  the  St.  Louis  Exposition,  where  he  had  opportunity 
to  make  a  brilliant  record  for  administrative  ability.  At  th:s  exposi- 
tion he  presented  to  the  public  a  greater  variety  of  natives  of  many 
parts  of  the  world  than  had  ever  been  assembled  before,  and  illus- 
trated their  natural  environments,  customs,  and  products  in  a  most 
instructive  manner.  It  was  one  of  the  greatest  lessons  in  geography 
that  has  ever  been  given,  and  one  that  had  the  largest  audience.  When 
the  great  fair  was  over  McGee  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  St.  Louis 
Public  Museum  project,  where  he  continued  for  two  years  till  1907, 
when  he  resigned  to  take  up  work  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture 


56  McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

as  expert  in  charge  of  Soil  Water  investigations.  This  position  he 
held  until  his  death. 

McGee  made  many  valuable  contributions  to  geography.  In  the 
Great  Basin  work  he  investigated  the  cause  of  the  peculiar  curvature 
of  lateral  moraines  issuing  from  gorges  into  broad  valley  bottoms; 
some  conditions  of  erosion  by  glacial  ice,  especially  in  the  develop- 
ment of  cirques,  rock  basins  and  U  shaped  canyons;  and  the  law  of 
foothill  development  in  that  region.  In  his  study  of  northeastern 
Iowa  he  ascertained  the  conditions  under  which  certain  drift  features 
were  developed,  and  set  forth  a  method  of  determining  direction  of 
the  ice  flow  without  depending  on  evidence  of  glacial  striae.  In  this 
work  also  he  set  forth  a  law  of  land  profiles  applied  in  the  driftless 
area,  and  a  law  of  varigradation  in  the  stream  gradients.  In  his 
work  on  the  Atlantic  Coastal  Plain  McGee  added  many  notable  ideas 
to  our  growing  science  of  Geomorphy,  then  in  its  infancy.  He  showed 
that  geologic  history  could  be  read  from  topographic  forms,  and  this 
means  was  extensively  used  by  him  and  by  myself  in  unraveling  the 
Coastal  Plain  geology.  Another  important  mode  of  recognizing  the 
formations  was  developed  at  the  same  time  and  that  was  by  homo- 
geny,  or  correlation  by  identity  of  genesis.  This  criterion  was  very 
essential  where  fossils  were  lacking.  One  very  important  phase  of 
this  work  was  in  the  differentiation  of  terrace  deposits  and  correla- 
tion of  terraces  which  represented  the  same  stage  in  the  topographic 
development  of  a  region.  It  was  by  this  means  that  I  mapped  many 
areas  of  Lafayette  and  earlier  Columbia  deposits  as  well  as  non-fossil- 
iferous  outliers  of  underlying  Tertiary  and  Cretaceous  deposits. 

Some  of  these  lines  of  work  led  McGee  to  develop  a  classification  of 
geographic  forms  by  genesis  which  was  set  forth  in  a  paper  published 
in  the  first  number  of  the  National  Geographic  Magazine.  McGee's 
observations  in  lower  California  on  his  trips  to  Seriland  and  Tiburon 
Island  afforded  some  very  instructive  facts  regarding  erosion  conditions 
in  arid  lands.  He  found  that  sheet  flood  erosion  was  an  important 
factor  in  levelling  the  surface  and  producing  peneplains  at  various  ele- 
vations above  the  sea.  This  idea  has  proven  to  be  a  very  valuable 
one,  and  has  greatly  simplified  our  conception  of  the  topographic  de- 
velopment of  certain  regions. 

The  paper  entitled  "Outlines  of  Hydrology"  which  McGee  pre- 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  57 

sen  ted  to  the  Geological  Society  of  America  in  1907  was  a  very  valua- 
ble contribution  to  geography.  It  was  a  philosophic  presentation  of 
the  role  of  water  in  nature,  and  summarized  in  compact  form  a  large 
amount  of  information.  His  paper  on  potable  waters  of  the  Eastern 
United  States  published  in  the  fourteenth  annual  report  of  the  Survey 
was  a  notably  complete  and  instructive  presentation  of  domestic 
water  problems.  This  publication  was  in  great  demand  and  un- 
doubtedly had  a  wide  influence  on  the  development  of  the  water  sup- 
plies and  in  guarding  them  from  pollution.  Throughout  his  work  on 
United  States  Geological  Survey  and  later,  he  gave  special  attention 
to  relations  between  geology  and  soils  and  especially  the  waste  of 
soil  by  erosion.  His  last  large  publication  was  a  memoir  on  soil  ero- 
sion issued  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in  1911.  It  treated 
not  only  of  the  conditions  of  soil  erosion  but  suggested  remedies 
which  may  prevent  erosion  and  reclaim  farm  lands  that  are  being 
damaged  by  it.  There  is  now  in  press  in  that  Department  another 
publication,  "Field  records  relating  to  Subsoil  Waters."  [Issued  early 
in  1913.— Ed.] 

McGee  always  had  great  interest  in  earth  crust  movements,  and 
in  1894  he  presented  to  the  Geological  Society  a  very  suggestive 
memoir  entitled  "The  Extension  of  Uniformitarianism  to  Deforma- 
tion." In  this  contribution  he  reviewed  the  criteria  relating  to  such 
movements  and  discussed  the  conditions  causing  deformations  of 
various  kinds. 

McGee  gave  considerable  attention  to  Dutton's  law  of  isostacy  and 
showed  that  isostatic  adjustment,  while  sufficing  to  explain  minor 
crustal  oscillation,  is  insufficient  to  explain  the  greater  movements  of 
the  earth's  crust.  He  set  forth  some  criteria  for  the  discrimination  of 
two  primary  classes  of  earth  movement,  antecedent  and  consequent. 
In  his  memoir  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  as  a  measure  of  isostacy  McGee 
reviewed  in  1892  the  evidences  of  subsidence  in  the  gulf  region,  es- 
pecially as  indicating  that  the  land  and  sea  are  in  a  state  of  hydro- 
static equilibrium.  Evidence  was  presented  showing  that  in  former 
times,  however,  some  of  the  movements  were  cataclysmic. 

Largely  in  connection  with  his  work  in  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology 
McGee  achieved  great  distinction  in  anthropology.  He  made  many 
contributions  to  that  science  and  devoted  much  time  to  its  societies 


58  McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

and  other  interests.  He  was  president  of  both  the  American  and 
Washington  societies  and  was  editor  and  contributor  to  the  section 
on  anthropology  in  the  International  Encyclopedia.  He  was  United 
States  Commissioner  in  the  International  Commission  of  Archaeology 
and  Ethnology,  and  in  1904  he  was  senior  speaker  in  the  World's  Con- 
gress of  Arts  and  Sciences.  One  of  his  most  notable  pieces  of  work 
while  on  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  was  an  exploration  of  Tiburon 
Island  in  the  Gulf  of  California.  This  island  is  inhabited  by  savages 
who  had  never  been  investigated  before,  and  the  expedition,  which 
was  a  highly  perilous  one,  afforded  a  large  number  of  interesting  and 
novel  data.  Another  important  item  of  his  work  in  anthropology  was 
the  formulation  of  principles  relating  to  geological  evidence  of  human 
antiquity. 

Probably  McGee's  most  notable  service  to  humanity  was  the  promi- 
nent part  which  he  had  in  the  great  movement  for  the  conservation 
of  our  natural  resources.  He  was  one  of  the  fathers  of  this  move- 
ment, and  exerted  very  powerful  influence  in  its  growth  and  promul- 
gation. He  also  furnished  a  large  amount  of  useful  data,  specially  in 
the  hydrographic  line.  He  was  a  most  prominent  member  of  the 
Conservation  Association,  and  his  council  was  always  of  greatest  serv- 
ice to  that  body.  He  was  chief  promoter  of  the  project  of  having 
the  great  Conference  of  Governors  which  President  Roosevelt  brought 
to  the  White  House  in  1908.  He  was  secretary  of  the  Conference, 
guided  its  deliberations,  and  prepared  the  fine  volume  of  its  proceed- 
ings. He  was  made  a  member  of  the  Inland  Waterways  Commission 
when  it  was  created  in  1907,  and  later  was  appointed  its  Secretary,  an 
office  in  which  he  continued  to  the  time  of  his  death.  He  did  a  vast 
amount  of  work  for  that  commission,  and  much  of  its  value  came 
from  his  services. 

McGee  was  greatly  interested  in  our  scientific  societies  and  had 
prominent  part  in  their  organization,  meetings,  and  administration. 
He  was  a  member  and  frequent  attendant  at  all  the  societies  in 
Washington,  and  the  Historical  Society  owes  its  existence  largely  to 
his  interest  and  energy.  The  National  Geographic  Society  also  had 
his  aid  in  its  inception  and  development,  and  he  edited  its  magazine 
for  several  years.  After  his  active  editorship  ceased  he  remained  an 
associate  editor  until  1908.  He  was  president  of  the  society  in  1904 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  59 

and  1905,  and  held  other  offices  in  its  administration.  He  strongly 
advocated  the  idea  of  making  the  society  appeal  to  popular  taste, 
and  this  policy  has  since  made  it  the  largest  scientific  body  in  the 
world,  with  a  membership  of  160,000. 

He  was  greatly  interested  in  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Wash- 
ington, serving  as  its  president,  and  in  1911  he  was  also  president  of 
the  American  Anthropological  Society.  In  1902  he  was  Vice  Presi- 
dent of  the  Archaeological  Institute.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Geological  Society  of  Washington,  and  made  many  communica- 
tions to  it  in  its  early  days.  He  was  one  of  the  small  group  of  geolo- 
gists who  organized  the  Geological  Society  of  America,  and  for  many 
years  he  was  editor  of  its  bulletin.  This  publication  had  many  novel 
and  admirable  departures  from  old  time  methods,  and  its  form  was 
copied  by  various  other  societies.  In  the  earlier  years  of  its  existence 
he  attended  all  the  meetings  of  the  Geological  Society  of  America 
and  frequently  read  papers.  He  was  one  of  the  original  members  of 
the  Association  of  American  Geographers,  and  gave  us  two  inter- 
esting communications  at  the  New  York  meeting  in  1906.  In  1904 
Me  Gee  was  chairman  of  the  Organizing  Committee  for  the  Inter- 
national Geographical  Congress,  and  he  was  appointed  United  States 
Commissioner  to  the  International  Committee  of  Archaeology  and 
Ethnology  and  senior  speaker  at  the  World's  Congress  of  Arts  and 
Sciences.  He  was  given  the  degree  of  LL.D.  by  Cornell  College  in 
Iowa,  in  1904. 

McGee  died  at  the  Cosmos  Club  in  Washington  on  September  4, 
1912,  from  cancer,  which  began  developing  in  the  prostate  region  some 
years  ago.  The  progression  of  the  final  stage  of  the  disease  was  slow, 
confining  him  to  his  room  and  then  to  bed  for  about  two  weeks,  and 
there  were  four  days  of  coma  at  the  end. 

With  characteristic  originality  and  desire  to  advance  science,  McGee 
willed  his  body  to  the  surgeons  of  Jefferson  Medical  College  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  his  brain  to  Doctor  Spitzka.  After  the  simple  burial 
service  at  the  home  of  his  close  friend,  Gifford  Pinchot,  the  body  was 
taken  to  Philadelphia  in  compliance  with  the  will.  At  the  same 
time  there  was  forwarded  to  Doctor  Spitzka  the  brain  of  Major 
Powell,  which  has  been  in  McGee's  possession  since  1903.  There  had 
been  some  good  natured  rivalry  between  the  two  as  to  the  greater 


60  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

weight  of  brain;  while  McGee's  brain  weighed  1410  grains  Powell's 
was  1488  grains,  both  far  above  the  average  of  men  in  general,  but 
in  the  case  of  Me  Gee  slightly  below  the  average  of  the  brains  of  100 
eminent  men  in  Doctor  Spitzka's  possession. 

I  shall  not  present  a  list  of  publications  made  by  Me  Gee,  for  they 
can  be  found  in  the  bibliographies  of  geology.  They  number  more 
than  300.  His  most  voluminous  reports  were  on  the  "  Lafayette 
Formation,"  "The  Geology  of  the  head  of  Chesapeake  Bay,"  "The 
Pleistocene  Geology  of  Northeastern  Iowa,"  "Potable  Waters  of  the 
Eastern  United  States,"  "Siouan  Indians,"  "Seri  Indians,"  "Primi- 
tive Numbers,"  "Soil  Erosion,"  "Outlines  of  Hydrology,"  "Primi- 
tive Trephining  in  Peru." 

Of  the  personal  side  of  Me  Gee  I  need  say  but  little,  for  you  all 
knew  him.  He  was  kind,  gentle,  generous,  and  inspiring.  His  as- 
pirations were  for  the  best  results,  and  he  strove  unselfishly  for  the 
truth  and  the  advancement  of  science.  His  mind  was  lofty,  and  had 
a  deep  insight  into  the  beauty  of  nature.  His  friendship  was  a  never- 
ending  fountain  of  help,  good  cheer,  and  inspiration.  I  am  proud 
that  he  was  my  friend. 

From  Professor  H.  L.  Fairchild,  of  the  University  of  Rochester: 

For  McGee's  character,  ability,  culture,  and  disposition  I  have 
the  greatest  admiration.  He  was  a  remarkable  and  noble  person- 
ality. 

Me  Gee  did  a  fine  stroke  of  work  when  he  planned  the  form  of  the 
Bulletin  of  the  Geological  Society  of  America.  He  was  at  the  first 
meeting  and  was  made  one  of  the  committee  on  publications.  With 
his  characteristic  energy  and  thoroughness  he  made  a  careful  study 
of  scientific  periodicals,  and  in  an  elaborate  report  evolved  the  ad- 
mirable form  of  the  publication,  which  has  been  a  model.  He  was 
made  Editor  of  the  Society,  and  the  first  three  volumes  of  the  Bulletin 
are  the  concrete  expression  of  his  ideas.  Considerable  part  of  the 
success  of  the  publication  and  of  the  prosperity  of  the  Society  are 
due  to  his  brainwork. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  61 

From  Senator  Duncan  U.  Fletcher,  of  Florida: 

I  knew  Doctor  W  J  McGee  personally  and  admired  him  greatly. 
He  was  a  thinker,  public  spirited  and  patriotic.  His  scientific  at- 
tainments were  of  the  highest  order,  and  he  was  so  modest  and  gentle 
he  made  warm  friends  on  every  hand  who  can  never  forget,  "The 
tender  grace  of  the  years  that  are  dead." 

The  Mississippi  to  Atlantic  Inland  Waterway  Association  was  very 
proud  of  his  favor.  I  first  met  him  at  Columbus,  Ga.,  some  five 
years  ago,  when  I  was  elected  President.  He  made  a  fine  speech  then 
and  every  year  thereafter  until  this,  when  he  sent  us  a  strong  and 
encouraging  message  since  he  could  not  attend  our  convention. 

From  Wm.  L.  Hall,  of  the  United  States  Forest  Service: 

In  1911,  when  after  years  of  delay  the  Government  entered  upon 
a  policy  of  acquiring  National  Forests  in  the  Appalachian  Region  and 
I  was  called  upon  to  take  part  in  the  work,  I  found  a  most  helpful 
friend  and  adviser  in  Doctor  McGee. 

The  work  was  new  and  presented  numerous  problems.  Many  in- 
deed had  regarded  these  problems  as  so  grave  and  difficult  of  solu- 
tion as  to  question  the  wisdom  of  the  Government's  undertaking  the 
acquisition  of  such  lands  at  all.  The  conditions  under  which  we  had 
to  work  at  first  were  not  favorable.  Large  sums  had  been  made  avail- 
able with  but  little  time  to  use  them.  Machinery  for  the  work  was 
lacking.  Land  owners,  in  not  a  few  cases  realizing  this  situation,  en- 
deavored to  turn  it  largely  to  their  profit  by  offering  lands  at  exorbi- 
tant prices.  Manifold  chances  were  presented  for  unfortunate  mis- 
takes which  would  quickly  have  brought  the  work  into  question,  and 
blighted  the  hopes  of  those  who  saw  in  the  movement  an  opportunity 
to  conserve,  develop,  and  rightly  utilize  the  Appalachian  Region. 

In  this  situation  I  turned  for  advice  and  counsel  to  a  number  of 
men  who  had  given  deep  thought  to  the  welfare  of  this  most  inter- 
esting section.  In  Doctor  McGee  I  found  a  man  of  broad  under- 
standing of  the  questions  involved  and  of  deep  sympathy  for  the 
plan.  No  other  man  with  whom  I  conferred  seemed  more  accurately 
to  appraise  the  scope  of  the  work  which  had  been  undertaken  and  to 
fit  the  work  into  its  place  in  the  conservation  movement.  He  saw 


62  McGEE   MEMORIAL   MEETING 

clearly  relationships  that  were  indistinct  or  indiscernible  to  many 
others.  He  distinguished  the  principles  involved  and  looked  far  to 
the  future. 

We  did  not  find  it  possible  to  accept  all  the  suggestions  that  he  ad- 
vanced, but  the  principles  which  he  had  so  well  in  mind  awakened 
in  myself  a  deeper  appreciation  than  I  had  before  of  the  far-reaching 
importance  of  the  work  which  had  in  small  part  been  placed  in  my 
hands.  He  helped  me  too  by  pointing  out  and  emphasizing  the 
chances  for  mistakes  which  at  that  time  I  did  not  fully  appreciate. 

This  occasion  gives  me  the  opportunity  I  have  coveted  to  say  that 
Doctor  McGee  helped  me  to  a  better  grasp  of  the  Appalachian  situa- 
tion. He  was  a  wise  counselor  and  a  ready  friend  at  a  critical  time. 

From  Professor  C.  H.  Hitchcock,  of  Honolulu,  Hawaii: 

I  first  met  Doctor  McGee  at  the  Boston  meeting  of  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  in  1880.  He  had  become 
a  member  of  the  Association  two  years  earlier,  at  St.  Louis.  Some- 
what later  he  sent  me  a  contribution  upon  the  geology  of  Iowa  for 
my  large  geological  map  of  the  United  States.  I  was  quite  surprised 
that  a  young  man  not  known  to  fame  should  venture  to  correct  the 
mapping  of  the  geology  of  that  State;  but  the  correction  was  so  obvi- 
ously right  that  I  immediately  placed  his  delineation  upon  the  map. 

In  1884,  McGee  and  I  were  associated  in  the  employ  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey  in  the  preparation  of  a  small  geological 
map  of  the  United  States.  We  prepared  a  single  copy,  using  the 
coloration  devised  by  Major  Powell  and  the  classification  of  my 
earlier  published  map.  Our  maps  were  published  separately  later, 
one  in  the  annual  report  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  in 
1884,  using  the  colors  proposed  by  Major  Powell,  the  other,  with 
many  changes,  in  the  report  of  the  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers 
in  1886,  designed  to  illustrate  the  scheme  of  coloration  proposed  by 
the  International  Congress  of  Geologists.  The  Survey  map  was  con- 
fined to  the  territory  upon  which  tolerably  complete  maps  had  been 
already  published;  mine  very  ambitiously  endeavored  to  fill  the 
gaps  between  the  States  and  Territories,  with  data  furnished  unoffi- 
cially by  geologists  more  or  less  familiar  with  them. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  63 

Geologists  will  recall  the  earnest  discussions  during  the  late  eighties 
and  early  nineties  in  connection  with  the  attitude  to  be  taken  toward 
the  International  Congress  of  Geologists.  One  of  the  objects  men- 
tioned as  calling  for  the  institution  of  this  body  was  the  discussion 
of  the  schemes  of  color  to  be  used  for  the  representation  of  the  forma- 
tions. It  was  thought  there  might  be  a  uniformity  in  a  scheme  to 
be  adopted  by  the  geologists  of  the  different  countries  represented. 
The  Congress  led  off  in  the  discussion  by  adopting  a  scheme  por- 
trayed upon  a  new  geological  map  of  Europe.  Among  those  who 
vigorously  opposed  its  adoption  was  Doctor  McGee,  who  proposed 
instead  the  scheme  employed  by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey. 
After  years  of  discussion,  the  parties  still  retain  their  original  pref- 
erences. Though  we  were  opposed  to  each  other  in  the  discussions 
we  still  retained  pleasant  social  relations,  especially  in  the  enter- 
tainment of  the  International  Congress  in  Washington  in  1892. 

Doctor  McGee  served  as  editor  of  the  Geological  Society  of  America, 
his  name  appearing  upon  the  first  three  volumes  issued.  The  pecu- 
liar features  of  the  publication  were  largely  outlined  by  him.  In 
this  work  we  were  associated  together. 

After  this  we  met  often  in  the  meetings  of  the  Geological  Society, 
and  of  the  American  Association;  and  discussed  various  phases  of 
the  glacial  period.  His  most  elaborate  works  were  the  reports  upon 
the  Lafayette  and  Columbia  formations. 

From  F.  W.  Hodge,  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology: 

Reprinted  from  the  American  Anthropologist,  Vol.  14,  No.  4,  Oct.-Dec.,  1912. 

William  John  McGee,  or,  as  he  preferred  to  be  known,  W  J  McGee, 
was  born  on  a  farm  at  Farley,  Dubuque  County,  Iowa,  April  17,  1853, 
and  died  of  cancer  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  September  4,  1912.  He 
was  the  son  of  James  and  Martha  (Anderson)  McGee,  of  Scotch  Irish 
ancestry,  his  paternal  great-great-grandfather  having  been  Alex- 
ander McGee  of  County  Down,  Ireland,  who  emigrated  to  the  United 
States,  while  on  the  maternal  side  the  line  leads  back  to  Samuel  An- 
derson, of  Irish  parentage,  who  was  born  at  sea  in  1740.  Both  of 
these  grandparents  espoused  the  American  cause  in  the  Revolution. 
In  his  early  years,  although  large  for  his  age,  McGee  was  frail  in 
health,  averse  to  manual  labor,  and  rather  uncertain  in  disposition; 


64  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

and  even  in  later  life,  notwithstanding  his  apparent  robustness,  he 
was  not  so  strong  physically  as  was  generally  supposed. 

Me  Gee  attended  irregularly  a  county  district  school,  of  the  kind 
common  to  sparsely  settled  communities,  until  he  was  about  fourteen 
years  of  age,  from  which  time  his  education  was  almost  entirely  the 
result  of  intense  individual  effort,  in  which  he  was  urged  and  stimu- 
lated by  his  mother,  an  excellently  well-informed  woman,  who  was 
anxious  that  her  children  should  be  well  educated.  The  last  one 
apparently  to  give  him  formal  instruction,  in  1867-68,  was  an  elder 
brother.  The  boy  proved  to  be  an  apt  pupil,  acquiring  knowledge 
with  wonderful  ease  and  retaining  it  in  what  later  developed  into  a 
really  remarkable  memory.  These  home  studies  were  continued 
through  the  years  1867  to  1874,  and  included  Latin,  German,  and 
higher  mathematics.  He  also  read  law,  and  to  a  slight  extent  en- 
gaged in  justice-court  practice.  His  self-acquired  knowledge  of 
mathematics,  which  included  astronomy  and  surveying,  combined 
with  field  instruction  by  a  maternal  uncle,  made  him  an  excellent 
surveyor,  and  his  services  in  this  capacity  were  not  only  much  in  de- 
mand in  the  neighborhood,  but  increased  his  powers  of  observation 
during  the  outdoor  work  that  ultimately  led  him  into  the  paths  of 
geology  and  anthropology.  Meanwhile,  when  about  twenty  years  of 
age,  he  worked  at  the  forge  and  became  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  agricultural  implements.  In  conjunction  with  an  elder 
brother  and  a  cousin,  he  invented  and  patented,  June  9,  1874,  an  im- 
proved adjustable  cultivator,  but  the  device  was  not  a  commercial 
success. 

As  is  well  known,  McGee's  first  serious  scientific  work  was  in  the 
field  of  geology.  In  1878  he  was  enrolled  as  a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  in  affiliation  with 
its  section  of  geology,  and  in  the  same  year  published  his  first  paper 
on  a  geological  topic.  From  1877  to  1881  he  prosecuted,  as  a  private 
enterprise,  a  topographic  and  geological  survey  of  an  area  in  north- 
eastern Iowa  covering  about  12,000  square  miles. 

It  was  evidently  during  this  field  work  that  McGee's  interest  in 
anthropological  research  was  first  aroused.  In  1878  appeared  his 
first  paper  on  an  anthropological  subject — "On  the  Artificial  Mounds 
of  Northeastern  Iowa,  and  the  Evidence  of  the  Employment  of  a 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  65 

Unit  of  Measurement  in  their  Erection" — an  immediate  outcome  of 
his  geological  studies  and  surveys  in  the  preceding  year.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 
at  St.  Louis  in  1878  he  presented  a  paper  "On  an  Anatomical  Peculi- 
arity by  which  Crania  of  the  Mound  Builders  may  be  Distinguished 
from  those  of  Modern  Indians,"  in  which,  as  in  the  case  of  his  earlier 
paper,  were  presented  views  that,  while  characteristic  of  the  period, 
are  untenable  in  the  light  of  present  knowledge,  but  serve  to  illustrate 
the  great  advance  made  in  the  elucidation  of  archaeological  prob- 
lems during  subsequent  years. 

McGee's  first  work  under  Federal  auspices  was  a  report  on  the 
building  stones  of  Iowa,  prepared  for  the  Tenth  Census  (1880),  pub- 
lished in  1884.  This,  but  more  especially  his  careful  work  on  the 
multifarious  phenomena  of  glaciation  in  the  upper  Mississippi  valley, 
had  attracted  wide  attention,  and  in  July,  1883,  when  thirty  years  of 
age,  he  was  called  to  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  by  its  di- 
rector, Major  J.  W.  Powell,  where  for  ten  years  he  served  as  a  geolo- 
gist and  performed  important  scientific  work.  On  June  30,  1893, 
Me  Gee  resigned  from  the  Geological  Survey  to  assume  on  the  follow- 
ing day  the  active  charge  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology, 
under  the  directorship  of  Major  Powell,  with  the  title  of  ethnologist, 
and  a  year  later  his  designation  was  changed  to  ethnologist-in-charge. 
During  his  service  with  this  Bureau,  which  extended  through  a  de- 
cade, he  continued  active  scientific  work  whenever  the  pressure  of 
the  administrative  duties  of  a  Government  office  permitted.  His 
most  noteworthy  undertaking  in  this  direction,  which  resulted  in  his 
most  important  contribution  to  anthropology,  was  a  study,  during 
two  seasons,  of  the  Seri  Indians  of  Tiburon  Island  in  the  Gulf  of 
California  and  of  the  adjacent  coast  of  Sonora,  in  1894  and  1895. 
With  a  small  party  he  conducted  the  only  scientific  expedition  to 
Tiburon  Island  that  had  ever  been  attempted,  and  prepared  a  topo- 
graphic map  of  the  island  home  of  the  Seri;  but  as  the  Indians  fled  on 
the  approach  of  the  party,  McGee  did  not  come  in  contact  with  them 
on  the  island,  depending  for  his  information  on  a  band  employed  by 
a  Mexican  ranchman  near  the  Sonora  coast.  The  results  of  these 
studies  formed  one  of  the  accompanying  papers  of  the  Eighteenth 
Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology.  Subsequently 


66  McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

he  spent  several  weeks  in  northern  Lower  California,  making  obser- 
vations among  the  Cocopa  Indians,  but  the  results  were  not  pub- 
lished. Based  chiefly  on  material  gathered  by  the  late  J.  Owen  Dor- 
sey,  McGee  prepared  a  memoir  on  "The  Siouan  Indians"  to  serve 
as  an  introduction  to  Dorsey's  "Siouan  Sociology,"  both  of  which 
papers  appear  in  the  Fifteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau.  Based 
on  a  collection  of  Peruvian  trephined  skulls  collected  by  Dr.  M.  A. 
Muniz,  of  Peru,  McGee  prepared,  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Muniz,  a 
descriptive  paper  which  was  published  in  the  Sixteenth  Annual  Re- 
port of  the  Bureau,  while  in  the  Nineteenth  report  he  presented  a 
paper  on  "Primitive  Numbers,"  with  the  result  that  Cornell  College, 
in  his  home  State,  conferred  on  him  the  degree  of  LL.D.  in  1901. 
McGee's  anthropological  bibliography  alone  is  an  extended  one,  while 
his  writings  on  scientific  subjects  generally  are  extremely  varied  and 
extensive.  He  resigned  from  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology, 
July  31,  1903,  to  assume  charge  of  the  Department  of  Anthropology 
of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  at  St.  Louis,  where  he  was 
active  also  in  organizing  the  World's  Congress  of  Arts  and  Sciences  in 
1904,  of  which  he  was  senior  speaker  in  its  department  of  Anthropo- 
logy. At  the  close  of  the  exposition  he  was  appointed  director  of  the 
"St.  Louis  Public  Museum,"  which  never  developed  much  more 
than  the  name;  and  in  1907,  after  spending  a  period  in  the  Papagueria 
Desert  of  Sonora  and  Arizona,  he  became  associated  with  the  Bureau 
of  Soils  in  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  as  an  expert 
in  subsoil  erosion  and  subsoil  waters,  which  position  he  held  until 
the  time  of  his  death.  Meanwhile  he  became  interested  in  the  Con- 
servation movement,  and  was  selected  as  Vice-Chairman  and  Secretary 
of  the  Inland  Waterways  Commission,  of  which  he  was  the  leading 
spirit  and  in  whose  interest  he  was  the  most  active  worker. 

In  1888  he  married  Anita  Newcomb,  who,  with  a  son  and  a  daughter, 
survive  him. 

McGee  was  a  man  of  commanding  presence,  of  remarkable  mental 
vitality,  ingenuity,  and  versatility,  and  of  almost  fanatical  persever- 
ance. He  had  a  personal  fondness  for  the  unusual,  as  his  preference 
in  respect  to  the  initials  of  his  given  name  and  his  strong  liking  for 
the  coinage  of  new  terms  suggest.  But  McGee  was  human  withal, 
and  the  most  generous  character,  both  with  his  slender  purse  and  his 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  67 

store  of  knowledge,  that  any  of  his  host  of  intimates  ever  knew.  He 
was  sympathetic  and  helpful,  with  almost  unlimited  ambition,  and 
ever  ready,  whatever  the  cost,  to  resent  any  seeming  interference 
with  it.  He  was  remarkably  alert  and  resourceful,  as  an  incident  of 
one  of  the  meetings  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science  will  show.  A  local  divine,  mistaking  McGee  for  a 
fellow  minister,  invited  him  to  fill  his  pulpit  at  a  Sunday  evening  serv- 
ice. McGee,  although  not  affiliated  with  any  church,  immediately 
accepted,  and  selecting  as  his  text  the  words  "Love  ye  one  another," 
delivered  an  address  remarkable  for  its  eloquence  and  replete  with 
human  sympathy  and  understanding. 

McGee's  interest  extended  to  almost  every  branch  of  science,  as 
his  constant  activities  in  behalf  of  and  his  affiliation  with  many  scien- 
tific bodies  attest.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Anthropological 
Society  of  Washington  soon  after  coming  to  the  Capital  and  served 
as  its  President  from  1898  to  1900.  In  1902  he  was  foremost  in  the 
founding  of  the  American  Anthropological  Association,  of  which  he 
was  elected  the  first  president.  When  the  American  Anthropologist 
was  established  in  1899,  McGee  became  one  of  the  two  constructive 
owners,  sharing  its  financial  responsibilities  before  it  came  under  the 
control  of  the  American  Anthropological  Association.  The  scientific 
and  other  learned  organizations  of  which  he  was  an  active  member 
are  too  numerous  to  list  here. 

The  courage  and  fortitude,  so  characteristic  of  McGee  in  his  most 
active  days,  he  did  not  permit  to  desert  him  toward  the  close  of  his 
life.  Aware  of  his  fatal  malady  long  before  the  end,  he  determined 
to  note  carefully  the  progress  of  the  disease  (which  first  manifested 
itself  in  the  Sonora  Desert  fourteen  years  before),  in  the  hope  that 
the  interests  of  learning  might  be  subserved.  The  result  of  these  ob- 
servations was  published  in  Science  shortly  after  his  death.  Not- 
withstanding intense  suffering  and  separation  from  all  his  kindred, 
and  with  full  knowledge  of  the  inevitable,  he  worked  assiduously  on 
the  final  revision  of  a  scientific  memoir  which  he  finished  on  the  eve 
of  the  final  dissolution. 

W  J  McGee  was  an  unusually  remarkable  man.  It  would  be  a 
difficult  task  to  appraise  now  the  value  of  his  varied  contributions  to 
knowledge,  to  recall  even  a  tithe  of  his  generosities,  or  to  recount  the 


68  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

multitude  of  his  interests.  From  early  manhood  he  was  a  strong  ad- 
vocate of  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  and  his  last  efforts  were  devoted 
to  this  lifelong  purpose. 

From  Doctor  Arthur  Hollick,  of  the  New  York  Botanical  Garden : 

The  Cosmos  Club  brought  Doctor  McGee  and  me  into  social  con- 
tact, and  when  our  dining  hour  chanced  to  be  identical  we  were  ac- 
customed to  sit  at  the  same  table  and  discuss  scientific  subjects  of 
mutual  interest  in  an  informal  and  unconventional  way.  I  can  well 
recall  the  last  of  these  impromptu  meals  together,  because  it  was 
such  a  short  time  before  his  death,  and  I  learned  afterwards,  as  we 
all  are  now  aware,  that  he  knew  he  was  doomed  at  that  time;  yet  no 
hint  of  what  he  knew  ever  intruded  itself  into  our  conversation,  and 
his  discussions  and  comments  were  apparently  just  as  much  con- 
cerned with  work  to  be  done  in  the  future  as  with  that  already  ac- 
complished. It  is  this  which  makes  me  realize  now,  as  I  never  did 
when  he  was  alive,  his  wonderful  self-control  and  will  power — char- 
acteristics which  make  him  appear  to  me  as  unique  and  conspicuous 
and  inspiring  a  personality  as  that  with  which  we  all  associate  his 
scientific  attainments. 

The  latter  require  no  comment  on  my  part.  The  reputation 
which  he  has  achieved  in  such  connection  assures  that  those  best 
qualified  to  recall  them  will  not  fail  to  do  so.  We  were  never  asso- 
ciated together  in  scientific  work,  either  as  co-laborers  or  otherwise; 
but  it  is  interesting  to  refer  to  the  casual  correspondence  which 
passed  between  us  during  a  period  of  over  twenty  years,  and  to  note 
the  variety  of  subjects  in  regard  to  which  I  had  occasion  to  communi- 
cate with  him — time  estimates  in  connection  with  the  subdivisions  of 
the  Pleistocene;  paleolithic  implements;  lithologic  characters  of  the 
Potomac  clays;  subdivision  of  the  "yellow  gravel;"  soil  erosion,  etc. 

It  was  a  privilege  to  have  known  him,  even  as  superficially  as  I 
did,  and  I  appreciate  the  opportunity  which  permits  me  to  tender 
this  little  contribution  to  his  memory. 

From  Arthur  Hooker,  of  the  International  Irrigation  Congress: 

W  J  McGee  was  born  in  Iowa  on  April  17,  1853,  and  died  in 
Washington,  D.  C.,  September  4,  1912,  aged  59  years.  He  had  very 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  69 

little  of  the  schooling  of  the  times,  but  belonged  to  the  class  of  so- 
called  self-educated  men  who  have  acquired  the  power  of  observation 
and  of  making  use  of  this  knowledge  without  the  help  of  teachers. 
He  grew  up  on  a  farm,  studied,  largely  by  himself,  Latin,  mathe- 
matics, astronomy,  and  surveying,  read  law,  practiced  before  the 
local  justice  courts,  and  turned  his  attention  to  inventing  and  manu- 
facturing agricultural  implements,  himself  working  at  the  forge  and 
at  the  bench.  He  became  attracted  to  the  geology  of  the  surrounding 
country,  and  on  foot  and  by  his  unaided  exertions,  made  one  of  the 
most  comprehensive  geologic  and  topographic  surveys  (of  Northeast- 
ern Iowa)  ever  executed  by  an  individual.  This  work  attracted  the 
attention  of  Major  John  W.  Powell,  Director  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey,  and  McGee  entered  that  bureau,  being  rapidly 
advanced  to  the  charge  of  important  field  practice.  Among  other 
matters  he  compiled  a  geologic  map  of  the  United  States,  investigated 
the  Charleston  earthquake,  and  later  explored  Tiburon  Island  in  the 
Gulf  of  California,  the  home  of  a  savage  tribe  never  before  studied. 

Gradually  his  interests  shifted  from  geology  to  the  study  of  man- 
kind, and  he  became  the  principal  officer  in  the  Bureau  of  American 
Ethnology,  and  later  Chief  of  the  Department  of  Anthropology  at 
the  St.  Louis  Exposition  in  1904.  Those  who  visited  that  Exposition 
recall  the  unprecedented  assemblage  of  the  world's  peoples.  On  the 
close  of  this  Exposition  he  became  Director  of  the  St.  Louis  Public  Mu- 
seum, and  later  a  member  of  the  United  States  Inland  Waterways 
Commission,  and  finally  during  the  last  years  of  his  life,  gave  especial 
attention  to  the  subject  of  distribution  of  water  on  and  beneath  the 
surface  of  the  United  States  and  to  its  industrial  relations.  His  last 
work  is  a  very  exhaustive  study  of  the  gradual  lowering  of  the  water 
plane  throughout  the  United  States,  as  shown  by  the  increasing 
depth  of  wells,  and  the  greater  difficulty  of  securing  an  adequate 
supply. 

In  connection  with  the  more  important  work  above  enumerated, 
he  was  at  all  times  prominent  in  scientific  societies,  and  showed  a 
broad  interest  and  sympathetic  appreciation  of  all  advances  in  human 
knowledge.  There  are  few  scientific  men  of  today  who  have  had  a 
wider  range  and  broader  grasp  of  what  was  forme'rly  called  "Natural 
History,"  and  who  could  discuss  these  subjects  with  the  breadth  and 


70  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

intimate  knowledge  of  details  shown  by  McGee.  His  publications 
are  voluminous,  and  show  a  grasp  of  the  larger  features  and  relations 
of  many  of  the  highly  specialized  sciences. 

The  ability  to  accomplish  such  unusual  results  in  a  lifetime  by 
no  means  long,  has  been  due  to  an  extraordinary  diligence  and  power 
of  application.  Possessing  a  strong  physique  and  untiring  interest, 
McGee  was  able  to  concentrate  upon  each  subject  which  came  before 
him,  and  regardless  of  time  or  external  distractions,  continued  hour 
after  hour,  sometimes  all  day  and  far  into  the  night,  on  the  subject  in 
hand.  Generosity  marked  all  his  acts  and  was  one  of  his  best  recog- 
nized characteristics.  At  all  times  he  freely  shared  with  his  associa- 
ates  the  idea  developed  by  him,  discussing  frankly  all  related  facts 
and  theories.  Few  men  have  done  more  to  stimulate  and  diffuse 
general  information,  and  to  give  freely  to  all  who  would  receive  his 
ideas  and  original  conceptions.  He  was  fearless  in  advocating  the 
truth  as  he  saw  it,  and  in  showing  the  fallacies  of  mistaken  ideas, 
however  popular  they  might  be.  He  thus  had  a  wide  circle  of  very 
warm  friends,  who  now  miss  his  cheerful  companionship  and  sin- 
cerely mourn  his  loss. 

His  character  may  be  summed  up  in  his  attitude  toward  his  ap- 
proaching end.  Interested  at  all  times  in  matters  of  health,  he 
discovered  through  observation  that  he  had  a  fatal  disease  long  before 
definitely  assured  of  the  fact  by  physicians.  At  once,  he  took  a  keen 
impersonal  scientific  interest  in  its  progress,  made  accurate  estimates 
of  the  probable  length  of  life,  the  amount  of  work  he  could  accom- 
plish, made  his  plans  systematically,  and  finished  the  work  a  few  days 
before  he  was  finally  compelled  to  abandon  original  investigation. 
As  long  as  consciousness  remained,  he  took  a  lively  interest  in  the 
doings  of  his  friends,  was  at  all  times  cheerful,  preserving  to  the  last 
his  characteristic  sense  of  kindly  humor,  and  seemed  more  solicitous 
for  the  comforts  and  convenience  of  his  associates  than  for  himself. 

From  Doctor  J.  F.  Kemp,  of  Columbia  University: 

When  we  find  a  man  who  works  out  his  own  preparation  by  the 
vastly  more  difficult  method  of  personal  effort,  and  who  fits  himself 
thoroughly  and  well  in  his  early  years,  under  his  own  ins  true  torship, 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  71 

we  pay  him  a  three-fold  tribute  of  respect,  and  we  view  his  results  with 
the  admiration  which  his  arduous  efforts  richly  deserve.  In  the  lat- 
ter group,  on  the  roll  of  American  scholars  and  scientific  men,  belongs 
the  name  of  W  J  McGee,  whose  work  and  character  we  recall  with 
affection  and  respect. 

At  the  outset  of  his  career,  the  aid  which  W  J  McGee  received 
from  others  was  extremely  meagre.  The  common  schools  gave  him 
his  sole  early  training.  But  he  was  gifted  by  nature  with  an  all-em- 
bracing and  acquisitive  mind,  so  that  he  absorbed  methods  and  facts 
with  eager  facility.  And  yet,  when  we  consider  the  effort  that  he  of 
necessity  put  forth  in  order  to  learn  the  results  of  others;  in  order  to 
acquire  an  easy,  clear  and  correct  literary  expression;  and  to  impress 
men  in  authoritative  positions,  so  as  to  win  an  opening  for  future 
work,  we  gain  some  adequate  conception  of  the  difficulties  which  he 
surmounted. 

W  J  McGee  did  all  this  and  more.  As  he  advanced  in  oppor- 
tunity, he  gained  a  broader  and  broader  grasp  of  scientific  problems, 
until  this  comprehensive  sweep  of  the  field  of  action  became  one  of 
his  chief  characteristics.  No  one  can  read  his  principal  monographs 
without  being  impressed  by  his  clearness  and  breadth  of  vision. 

On  entering  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  in  1883,  Doctor 
McGee  came  before  long  under  the  influence  of  Major  Powell,  and  by 
the  Major's  strong  interest  in  the  physiographic  side  of  geology  he  was 
apparently  much  influenced.  His  early  observations  upon  the  drift 
in  his  native  State  prepared  him  for  this  result.  We  all  recall  espe- 
cially his  later  studies  on  the  surface  geology  of  Iowa,  as  the  ripe 
fruition  of  years  of  growth  under  the  Survey's  influence.  Before  his 
final  paper  on  Iowa  in  1891,  he  had  become  busied  with  similar  prob- 
lems along  the  Atlantic  Coast.  While  their  treatment  involved  close 
stratigraphic  work  in  the  latest  Tertiary  and  Pleistocene  beds,  yet 
as  we  read  we  see  that  our  author's  mind  was  constantly  reconstruct- 
ing the  old  physiographic  conditions.  The  real  objective  of  his  work 
was  the  history  of  the  Atlantic  coast  rather  than  the  thickness  and 
distribution  of  the  beds  which  resulted  from  its  ups  and  downs. 

Major  Powell,  as  we  all  know,  was  also  profoundly  interested  in 
the  ethnology  of  our  aborigines.  His  life  in  the  West  had  established 
the  Indians  very  deeply  in  his  affections.  No  one  so  closely  associated 


72  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

with  him  as  was  Doctor  McGee  could  escape  the  contagion  of  these 
absorbing  interests.  The  connection  of  man  on  this  continent  with 
the  deposits  of  the  glacial  epoch  led  by  a  natural  transition  also  to 
the  study  of  the  native  tribes.  We  find  therefore  Doctor  McGee  pass- 
ing in  the  early  nineties  quite  naturally  to  ethnographical  work, 
with  which  he  was  to  be  identified  for  the  next  fifteen  years.  His 
courageous  and  successful  expedition  to  the  Island  of  Tiburon  was 
an  example  of  the  irrepressible  spirit  of  the  investigator,  pushing  ever 
into  new  and  unknown  fields.  The  tragedy  of  his  life  came  when, 
from  influences  beyond  his  control,  he  was  diverted  from  his  natural 
and  normal  career.  We  remember  at  this  date  only  the  cheerful 
philosophy  with  which  new,  undeserved,  and  unexpected  conditions 
were  faced.  We  recall  also  the  calm  courage  with  which,  in  the  soli- 
tude of  the  western  desert,  a  physical  break-down  was  overcome. 
We  are  mindful  of  the  vigor  with  which  new  duties  were  assumed  and 
discharged  when  our  old  friend  resumed  his  place  in  the  eastern  world. 
We  remember  no  less  the  characteristic  cheery  philosophy  with  which 
the  final  departure  from  this  life  was  viewed,  and  the  ever  present 
desire  of  the  man  of  science  to  make  his  experience  of  use  to  his 
fellows. 

There  have  been  many  remarkable  characters  developed  in  America 
amid  unpromising  environments  in  youth.  There  have  been  many 
who  have  had  in  addition  to  contend  with  difficulties  and  disappoint- 
ments in  maturer  years.  There  are  fewer  who  have  triumphed  over 
all  without  bitterness,  and  with  all  the  finer  sides  of  character  unin- 
jured. Yet  all  this  was  done  by  him  whose  memory  the  Washington 
Academy  of  Sciences  honors. 

From  Professor  Charles  Keyes,  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa: 

In  a  short  unpretentious  paper,  published  so  long  ago  as  1882, 
Doctor  McGee  clearly  shows  that  certain  thick  sections  of  glacial 
till  are  divided  medially  by  an  extensive  deposit  of  homogeneous 
pebbleless  loam.  The  descriptive  record  is  included  in  the  notes  "On 
the  Loess  and  Associated  Deposits  of  Des  Moines."  So  far  as  it 
now  appears  this  is  the  first  and  best  evidence  adducted  up  to  that 
time  in  support  of  the  theory  of  the  complexity  of  the  Great  Ice  age. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  73 

The  discovery  was  followed  by  many  others  of  similar  nature  until 
the  complete  sequence  involved  no  less  than  five  distinct  till-sheets. 
Today  the  Iowa  classification  of  the  Glacial  period  is  accepted  the 
world  over. 

Since  diversity  of  the  Glacial  period  is  a  necessary  consequence  of 
CrolFs  now  celebrated  hypothesis  of  climate  and  time,  this  first  seri- 
ous attempt  to  establish  glacial  complexity  as  opposed  to  glacial 
unity  premised  by  Agassiz,  was  soon  shown  to  have  its  astronomical 
dates  too  far  apart  satisfactorily  to  explain  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
Ice  age  that  were  even  then  known.  In  the  meanwhile  direct  obser- 
vations in  the  field  were  beginning  to  tell  heavily  against  the  unity 
idea  then  generally  held  by  scientific  men.  Professor  Edward  Orton 
had  noted  (1870)  a  soil  separating  the  Ohio  drift  into  two  parts.  Al- 
ready Professor  T.  C.  Chamberlin  had  argued  for  the  duality  of  the 
Glacial  period  (1876) .  It  remained,  however,  for  Doctor  McGee  actu- 
ally to  demonstrate  for  the  first  time  an  orderly  succession  of  glacial 
deposits  in  a  definitely  circumscribed  area. 

The  arguments  for  a  dual  Glacial  period,  and  at  the  time  of  its  sug- 
gestion for  a  multiple  Ice  age,  were  for  many  years  based  mainly  upon 
the  fact  of  the  presence  in  some  till-sections  of  thin  black  soil  streaks, 
replaced  here  and  there  by  old  peat-beds.  The  latter  were  plausibly 
accounted  for  in  other  ways.  That  there  might  be  extensive  inter- 
glacial  sands,  or  clay-deposits,  was  not  thought  of.  Yet  they  were 
actually  described  and  a  complete  record  made  of  their  attendant 
relationships  a  full  decade  before  the  phenomena  were  properly  in- 
terpreted. 

At  the  time  when  Doctor  McGee's  little  memoir  appeared  the  sub- 
ject of  the  complexity  of  the  Glacial  period  was  too  new  for  a  ready 
and  correct  apprehension  of  the  facts  which  were  accumulating  with 
such  amazing  rapidity.  The  interest  of  glacial  workers  was  centered 
too  intensely  upon  the  possible  dual  character  of  the  Great  Ice  invasion 
to  permit  of  the  entertainment  of  any  further  complications.  In 
Iowa,  where  afterwards  the  five  great  till-sheets  were  made  out  and 
shown  to  be  separated  from  one  another  by  extensive  soil  zones,  thick 
deposits  of  loess,  and  vast  accumulations  of  sands  and  gravels,  Doc- 
tor McGee  (then)  had  but  recently  gone  over  the  ground,  and  had 
found  everywhere  the  same  succession  of  only  two  tills  parted  by  fine 


74  McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

loam.  This  fact  he  attributed  to  the  dual  character  of  the  ice  ad- 
vance. That  he  should  have  failed  to  detect  the  disparities  in  the 
correlation  of  the  several  till-sheets  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  for  no 
detailed  mapping  of  any  part  of  the  region  had  yet  been  done.  It  is, 
then,  no  disparagement  to  his  keen  observational  powers,  his  philo- 
sophic insight  into  the  order  of  nature,  or  his  remarkable  generalizing 
faculties,  to  note  this  fact,  for  he  chanced  to  be  on  the  ground  a  full 
decade  too  soon.  Had  he  remained  a  few  years  longer  in  his  native 
State  he  doubtless  would  have  been  able  to  correctly  correlate  his 
different  drift-sections;  but  he  was  called  into  distant  fields,  and  he 
was  unable  until  many  years  later  to  review  his  earlier  work. 

The  place  where  these  depositional  proofs  of  the  complexity  of  the 
Glacial  period  were  first  obtained  is  for  several  reasons  of  exceptional 
interest.  The  section  as  originally  displayed  and  described  is  now 
fast  disappearing.  It  is  also  this  section  which  later  gave  the  first 
intimation  of  the  eolic  origin  of  American  loess  loams.  It  was  here 
that  was  found  the  first  clue  to  the  wonderful  interlocking  of  the 
southwestern  loess  deposit  with  the  northeastern  glacial  tills.  The 
locality  bids  fair  long  to  remain  one  of  the  classic  geologic  spots  of 
the  continent. 

At  this  time  and  distance  there  are  few  of  us  who  have  any  ade- 
quate conception  of  the  great  difficulties  which  the  Ice  problem  once 
presented.  Still  fewer  of  us  there  are  who  understand  from  experi- 
ence what  it  really  means  actively  and  determinedly  to  contend  on 
the  battle-line  of  the  unknowable.  No  one  is  in  better  position  to 
know  intimately  the  intricacies  of  attempting  to  decipher  the  glacial 
puzzles  of  that  day  than  was  McGee  himself;  and  no  one  has  stated 
them  more  graphically.  Here  are  his  own  words,  as  he  sums  up  his 
results  in  northeastern  Iowa : 

The  most  startling  induction  of  geology,  if  not  of  modern  science,  is  the 
glacial  theory;  but  in  the  problem  of  these  pages  it  is  necessary  to  do  more 
than  assume  the  existence  and  action  of  a  great  sheet  of  ice  hundreds  or 
thousands  of  feet  in  thickness  and  hundreds  or  thousands  of  miles  in  ex- 
tent. In  order  to  explain  the  sum  of  the  phenomena  it  is  necessary  to  pic- 
ture the  great  ice-sheet  not  only  in  its  general  form  and  extent,  but  in  its 
local  features,  its  thickness,  its  direction  and  rate  of  movement  over  each 
square  league,  the  inclination  of  its  surface  both  at  top  and  bottom,  and 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  75 

the  relation  of  these  slopes  to  the  subjacent  surface  of  earth  and  rock;  and 
all  this  without  a  single  glacial  stria  or  an  inch  of  ice-polish,  save  in  one 
small  spot,  in  the  whole  tract  of  16,500  square  miles.  It  is  necessary 
to  conceive  not  only  the  mode  of  melting  of  the  ice  at  each  league  of  its 
retreat,  but  also  every  considerable  brook,  every  river,  and  every  lake  or 
pond  formed  by  the  melting,  both  at  its  under  surface  and  on  its  upper  sur- 
face; it  is  necessary  to  restore  not  only  the  margin  of  the  mer  de  glace  under 
each  minute  of  latitude  it  occupied,  but,  as  well,  the  canyons  by  which  it 
was  cleft,  the  floe-bearing  lakes  and  mud-charged  marshes  with  which  it 
was  fringed,  each  island  of  ice,  and  each  ice-bound  lake  formed  within  its 
limits.  And  it  is  not  only  necessary  to  reconstruct  the  geography  of  a 
dozen  episodes,  as  does  the  anatomist  the  skeleton  from  a  few  bones,  but 
to  develop  a  geography  such  as  civilized  eye  has  never  seen,  and  which 
could  only  exist  under  conditions  such  as  utterly  transcend  the  experience 
of  civilized  man.  All  this  has  been  done.  The  trail  of  the  ice  monster 
has  been  traced,  his  magnitude  measured,  his  form  and  even  his  features 
figured  forth,  and  all  from  the  slime  of  his  body  alone,  where  even  his 
characteristic  tracks  fail. 

This  now  somewhat  famous  geologic  section  is  situated  on  the 
crest  of  Capitol  Hill,  at  the  south  end  of  the  Capitol  grounds,  in  Des 
Moines,  Iowa.  As  originally  described  in  the  American  Journal  of 
Science  (Vol.  xxiv,  p.  202,  1882,)  the  exposure  of  deposits  presents  the 
following  relations: 

5.  Till,  light  reddish  buff  clay  with  pebbles (feet)  7 

4.  Till,  contorted  and  interstratified  with  loess 5 

3.  Loess,  with  numerous  fossils 15 

2.  Till,  dark  red  clay  with  abundant  pebbles 6 

1.  Shale  (Carboniferous)  exposed 10 

Three  important  features  are  especially  to  be  noted:  (1)  The  lower 
till  (No.  2)  represents  what  is  now  called  the  Kansas  drift,  which 
was  formed  when  the  great  continental  glacier,  reaching  southward  to 
St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City,  attained  its  greatest  extent  and  thickness; 
(2)  the  loess  members  composed  of  fine  loams  (Nos.  3  and  4)  consti- 
tuted the  soil  formation  during  a  long  interglacial  epoch  when  the 
climate  was  not  very  different  from  what  it  is  at  the  present  day; 
and  (3)  the  upper  till  (No.  5)  represents  what  is  now  known  as  the 
Wisconsin  drift. 


76  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

Thus  for  one  of  the  half  dozen  great  geologic  generalizations  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century  Doctor  McGee  laid  the  foundations. 

From  Doctor  F.  H.  Knowlton,  of  the  U.  S.  National  Museum: 
(Reprinted  from  Science,  Sept.  12,  1912.) 

In  these  days  of  advanced  specialization  and  refinement  in  the 
study  of  scientific  problems,  it  has  seemingly  become  increasingly 
evident  that  the  best  measure  of  success  can  only  be  attained  with 
the  full  panoply  of  a  modern  educational  equipment.  Yet  there 
have  been  in  the  past,  and  doubtless  there  will  be  in  the  future,  notable 
exceptions  to  this  rule.  It  is  often  said  of  one  who  has  reached  an 
eminence  without  the  stimulating  aid  of  early  educational  advantage, 
that  had  he  fortunately  possessed  this  training  no  one  may  measure 
the  higher  eminences  to  which  he  might  have  ascended.  Rather  is 
it  possible — indeed,  probable — that  the  spark  of  genius  is  stimulated 
by  adversity,  and  that  breadth  of  vision  and  strength  of  character 
come  oftener  as  the  fruit  of  action  rather  than  of  ease;  for 

So  doth  luxury  make  weaklings  of  us  all. 

Certain  it  is  that  Doctor  McGee  attained  a  very  notable  measure 
of  success  with  the  minimum  of  formal  educational  training. 

William  John  McGee — or  simply  W  J  McGee,  as  in  later  years  he 
preferred  to  be  known — was  born  on  a  farm  at  Farley,  Dubuque 
County,  Iowa,  April  17,  1853,  and  died  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  Sep- 
tember 4,  1912.  He  was  the  fourth  of  a  family  of  eight  children  born 
to  James  and  Martha  Ann  (Anderson)  McGee,  and  is  survived  by 
three  brothers  and  a  sister,  the  others  having  died  in  infancy  or  youth. 
His  parents  were  of  sturdy  Scotch-Irish  stock,  his  great-great-grand- 
father on  the  paternal  side  having  been  Alexander  McGee  of  County 
Down,  Ireland,  who  came  early  to  this  country,  and  on  the  maternal 
side  the  line  leads  back  to  Samuel  Anderson,  who  was  born  at  sea, 
about  1740,  of  Irish  emigrant  parents.  The  latter  resided  near  York- 
town,  Virginia,  and  both  participated  in  the  Revolution  on  the 
American  side,  which  perhaps  accounts  in  a  way  for  McGee's  intense 
Americanism.  In  infancy  and  early  youth,  although  always  of  large 
size  for  his  years,  McGee  was  in  frail  health  and  somewhat  uncertain 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY   OF   SCIENCES  77 

in  disposition,  and  even  in  later  life,  notwithstanding  his  rugged  physi- 
cal appearance,  he  was  far  from  being  as  strong  as  seemed  apparent. 

McGee's  early  education  followed  the  usual  course  in  sparsely  settled 
country  districts.  He  attended  irregularly  the  county  district  school 
until  he  was  about  14  years  of  age,  but  as  the  school  was  confessedly 
of  low  grade,  it  is  not  probable  that  he  advanced  much  beyond  the 
merest  rudiments.  From  this  time  on  his  education  was  almost  en- 
tirely the  result  of  intense  individual  effort.  In  this,  as  is  so  often 
the  case,  he  was  urged  and  stimulated  by  the  mother,  an  excellently 
well  informed  woman,  who  was  particularly  anxious  that  her  family 
should  be  well  educated.  The  last  one  apparently  to  give  him  for- 
mal instruction  (1867-1868)  was  an  older  brother,  who  speaks  of  him 
as  an  exceedingly  apt  pupil,  acquiring  knowledge  easily  and  retain- 
ing it  in  what  was  later  developed  into  a  really  marvelous  memory. 
His  home  studies  were  continued  over  the  years  1867-1874,  during 
which  time  he  studied  Latin,  German  (in  which  he  became  especially 
proficient),  and  the  higher  mathematics,  including  astronomy  and 
surveying.  He  also  read  law  and  to  some  extent  engaged  in  justice- 
court  practice,  but  this  never  was  considered  as  of  much  importance 
in  his  plan  of  life,  and  was  soon  laid  aside.  He  was,  however,  an  ex- 
cellent surveyor,  having  been  instructed  in  this  field  by  a  maternal 
uncle,  and  his  work  was  much  in  demand  in  the  neighborhood. 

When  about  twenty  years  old  McGee  learned  blacksmithing,  and 
for  several  years  engaged  in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  agricultural 
implements.  In  conjunction  with  an  older  brother  and  a  cousin,  he 
invented  and  patented  (June  9,  1874,)  an  improved  adjustable  culti- 
vator, but  the  enterprise  was  not  financially  successful,  nor  was  the 
invention  a  pioneer  in  its  class. 

It  was  apparently  about  this  time  (1874)  that  McGee's  attention 
was  first  directed  to  geology.  Just  what  the  incident  was  that  first 
claimed  his  attention  and  stimulated  his  interest  in  what  was  later 
to  be  one  of  the  dominating  activities  of  his  life  is  not  known.  The 
glacial  mantle  which  so  completely  covers  northeastern  Iowa  offered 
many  then  unsolved  problems,  and  together  with  his  brothers  he  ex- 
plored with  keen  interest  the  numerous  caves  about  their  home  and 
studied  the  peculiar  rocky  topography  with  more  than  boyish  interest. 
He  read  widely  of  such  books  and  papers  as  were  then  available  on 


78  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

glaciation  and  its  phenomena,  and  began  independent  observations 
which  soon  brought  him  into  communication  and  contact  with  other 
workers  in  this  field.  The  fact  that  he  joined  the  American  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science  in  1878  (twenty-seventh  meet- 
ing, St.  Louis,  August,  1878),  enrolling  himself  in  the  section  of  geol- 
ogy, shows  that  his  interest  was  even  then  crystallizing  along  these 
lines.  So  far  as  learned,  his  first  scientific  paper,  "On  the  relative 
position  of  the  forest  bed  and  associated  formations  in  northeastern 
Iowa,"  was  published  in  1878,  and  was  the  forerunner  of  many  of 
like  import.  Between  the  years  1877  and  1881  he  prosecuted,  as  a 
private  enterprise,  a  topographic  and  geologic  survey  of  some  12,000 
square  miles  of  territory  in  northeastern  Iowa,  though  the  full  results 
were  not  published  until  1891. 

McGee's  first  work  under  Federal  auspices  was  a  report  on  the 
building  stones  of  Iowa,  prepared  for  the  Tenth  Census  of  1880, 
though  not  published  until  four  years  later.  This,  but  more  espe- 
cially his  careful  work  on  the  multifarious  phenomena  of  glaciation 
in  the  upper  Mississippi  Valley,  had  attracted  wide  attention,  and 
in  July,  1883,  he  was  called  to  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  then  under 
the  directorship  of  Major  J.  W.  Powell.  In  a  very  short  time  he  was 
placed  in  charge  of  the  division  of  Atlantic  Coastal  Plain  geology. 
Although  then  but  thirty  years  of  age,  he  came,  not  as  a  mere  tyro 
or  dabbler  in  geology,  as  might  be  presumed  from  his  previous  isola- 
tion, but  with  an  astonishing  breadth  of  view  and  maturity  of  judg- 
ment, and  within  the  next  ten  years  he  erected  a  foundation  which 
must  always  be  considered  by  any  who  would  study  the  geology  of 
the  Coastal  Plain.  This  decade— 1883-1894— covers  the  period  of 
his  most  intensive  constructive  geological  activities.  He  resigned 
from  the  Geological  Survey  on  June  30,  1893,  to  assume  on  the  fol- 
lowing day  the  position  of  ethnologist  in  the  Bureau  of  American 
Ethnology,  to  which  department  he  had  accompanied  Major  Powell. 
One  year  later  he  became  ethnologist  in  charge  of  the  Bureau,  and 
continued  in  this  position  until  July  31,  1903,  when  he  resigned  to  as- 
sume charge  of  the  Department  of  Anthropology  of  the  St.  Louis 
Exposition,  where  he  brought  together  an  unprecedented  assemblage 
of  the  world's  peoples.  At  the  close  of  the  exposition  he  became  the 
first  director  of  the  St.  Louis  Public  Museum,  continuing  in  this  po- 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  79 

sition  from  1905  to  1907.  On  March  14,  1907,  President  Roosevelt 
created  an  Inland  Waterways  Commission,  and  at  the  first  meeting  of 
this  Commission  Doctor  McGee  was  elected  vice-chairman  and  secre- 
tary, a  position  he  continued  to  fill  until  his  death.  About  the  same 
time  (March  23,  1907)  he  was  appointed  as  an  expert  in  soil  waters 
in  the  Bureau  of  Soils,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  and 
in  this  position  he  also  continued  until  his  death. 

Aside  from  the  honors  and  responsibilities  which  came  with  a  busy 
official  life,  many  additional  honors  were  conferred  upon  Doctor  Mc- 
Gee. He  was  one  of  the  principal  founders  of  the  Columbia  Histori- 
cal Society;  sometime  president  of  the  American  Anthropological  As- 
sociation, the  Anthropological  Society  of  Washington,  the  National 
Geographic  Society,  and  the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science  (1897).  He  was  the  senior  speaker  in  the  depart- 
ment of  anthropology  at  the  World's  Congress  of  Arts  and  Sciences 
in  1904,  and  non-resident  lecturer  on  anthropology  at  the  State  Uni- 
versity of  Iowa.  In  1901,  in  recognition  of  his  distinguished  attain- 
ments, the  degree  of  LL.D.  was  conferred  on  him  by  Cornell  College, 
Iowa,  at  which  time  he  presented  a  comprehensive  essay  on  the 
"  Beginnings  of  mathematics." 

In  1888  Doctor  McGee  was  married  to  Anita  Newcomb,  who,  with 
a  son  and  daughter,  survives  him. 

In  the  field  of  the  Pleistocene  geology  of  the  upper  Mississippi  Val- 
ley, McGee  was  really  a  pioneer.  At  the  time  he  began  his  studies 
very  little  was  known  of  the  glacial  history  of  this  region,  and  he  did 
much  to  establish  a  knowledge  of  the  succession  of  invasions  and  re- 
cessions of  the  ice-sheet,  and  while  many  of  his  conclusions  have  been 
subject  to  revision  in  the  light  of  fuller  modern  investigation,  much 
of  his  work  remains,  and  must  remain,  as  a  basis  on  which  subsequent 
knowledge  is  to  be  builded. 

McGee's  most  notable  contributions  to  American  geology,  are,  of 
course,  in  the  Atlantic  Coastal  Plain.  In  this  field  there  must  ever  be 
associated  the  names  of  four  notable  students — Hilgard,  Smith,  Dall, 
and  McGee.  These  men  have  laid  the  foundation,  however  much  it 
has  been,  or  in  future  will  be,  modified,  upon  which  all  subsequent 
work  must  be  erected.  In  the  particular  phase  of  the  subject  which 
McGee  made  his  own,  he  was  again  a  pioneer.  He  saw  and  appreci- 


80  McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

ated  the  broad  problems  of  stratigraphic  continuity  and  succession, 
of  continental  elevation  and  depression,  and  he  set  about  their  solu- 
tion. His  work  was  distinctly  constructive,  and  as  such  finds  a  per- 
manent place  in  American  geologic  history.  While  certain  of  his  con- 
clusions, as  is  almost  inevitable  in  pioneer  work,  have  been  modified 
or  revised,  the  broad  fundamental  generalizations  remain  as  an 
essential  basis  for  later  students. 

After  an  interval  of  a  dozen  years  or  more  following  the  close  of  his 
studies  on  Coastal  Plain  geology,  during  which  his  attention  was 
mainly  occupied  in  the  field  of  ethnology,  Doctor  McGee  again  re- 
turned to  the  consideration  of  certain  collateral  geologic  problems. 
It  had  come  to  be  the  fancy  in  certain  quarters  that  the  removal  of  the 
forest  or  vegetal  covering  had  little  or  no  influence  on  the  run-off  of 
surface  waters.  His  report  on  "Soil  Erosion,"  published  as  a  bulle- 
tin of  the  Bureau  of  Soils  in  the  United  States  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture, is  a  complete  and  graphic  refutation — if  such  were  really  needed 
—of  this  contention.  His  last  work,  completed  less  than  a  month 
before  his  death,  and  also  published  as  a  bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of 
Soils,  is  an  elaborate  study  of  subsoil  water  and  its  essential  relation 
to  agriculture. 

Of  his  anthropological  and  ethnological  work  only  the  briefest  men- 
tion may  be  made  here.  While  much  of  his  time  was  given  to  admin- 
istrative work,  he  nevertheless  found  opportunity  for  a  number  of 
studies,  perhaps  the  most  notable  being  a  study  of  the  Seri  Indians,  a 
fierce  previously  unstudied  tribe  inhabiting  certain  islands  off  the 
coast  of  Lower  California. 

Doctor  McGee  did  much  for  the  Geological  Society  of  America.  He 
was  one  of  its  founders  and  served  for  four  years  as  its  editor,  estab- 
lishing the  Bulletin,  its  official  publication,  on  the  high  plane  it 
then  and  has  since  maintained.  His  constant  attendance  at  the 
meetings  during  the  earlier  years  of  the  Society's  existence  will  be  re- 
called, as  well  as  his  contributions  to  many  notable  discussions  of 
geologic  problems. 

W  J  McGee  was  a  man  of  commanding  presence,  one  who  would 
attract  attention  in  whatever  assemblage  he  might  find  himself.  Al- 
though seemingly  somewhat  formal  in  address  to  those  not  intimately 
acquainted  with  him,  he  was,  nevertheless,  a  man  of  cordial  sympa- 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  81 

thetic  manner  and  of  deep  human  sympathies.  It  is  related  of  him 
that  once,  when  in  attendance  on  a  meeting  of  the  American  Associa- 
tion, he  was  asked  by  a  local  divine  to  fill  his  pulpit  at  the  Sunday 
evening  service.  Although  not  affiliated  with  any  church,  McGee 
accepted  at  once,  and,  selecting  as  his  text  the  words  "Love  ye  one 
another, "  delivered  an  address  replete  with  human  sympathy  and 
understanding.  He  was  kindly  and  considerate  to  those  who  worked 
with  him,  and  generous  to  a  degree,  it  being  rare  indeed — too  rarely 
for  his  own  best  interest — that  an  appeal  was  without  substantial  re- 
ward. He  was  a  good  conversationalist  and  a  ready  public  speaker, 
having  at  command  a  splendid  memory  and  a  really  wonderful 
vocabulary;  in  fact,  in  the  use  of  the  latter  he  sometimes  seemed  to 
border  on  the  pedantic,  yet  when  a  new  or  unfamiliar  word  was  used 
it  was  usually  found  in  last  analysis  that  it  was  a  fitting  word  for  the 
shade  of  meaning  desired  to  be  conveyed. 

McGee  was  a  helpful  man,  every  ready  with  counsel  and  information 
to  assist  whomsoever  might  come  to  him.  To  the  younger  men  he  was 
especially  considerate  and  helpful,  drawing  freely  upon  his  vast  store- 
house of  information  without  thought  or  regard  for  personal  credit. 
When  the  so-called  conservation  movement  was  launched  a  few  years 
ago,  the  exigencies  of  public  life  made  it  impossible  for  full  credit  to  be 
given  to  all  who  had  a  guiding  hand  in  the  work,  but  from  one  in  posi- 
tion to  know  it  appears  that  the  success  of  this  movement  was  in  a  large 
measure  due  to  the  far-sighted  comprehensive  policy  and  sterling  ad- 
vice of  Doctor  McGee.  Many  of  the  activities  of  the  Inland  Water- 
ways Commission,  of  which,  as  already  mentioned,  he  was  the  Vice- 
Chairman  and  Secretary,  were  due  to  his  energy  and  initiative.  La- 
borious statistical  tables  were  compiled,  and  scattered  information 
brought  together  in  usable  form.  During  all  these  later  years,  al- 
though not  engaged  in  active  geological  investigation,  he  was  always 
willing  and  anxious  to  discuss  the  newer  results  in  the  several  fields 
and  to  accept  without  question  or  resentment  those  which  offered  a 
surer  solution  than  any  he  had  himself  proposed. 

Although  it  is  said  of  Doctor  McGee  that  in  early  life  he  was  dis- 
tinctly averse  to  manual  labor,  in  later  life  he  certainly  developed  un- 
tiring energy,  as  a  glance  at  his  many  and  varied  accomplishments  will 
show.  He  was  also  a  good  organizer  and  was  systematic  and  pains- 


82  McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

taking  in  all  he  undertook.  His  last  work  on  "Wells  and  Subsoil 
Water,"  the  proof-sheets  of  which  lie  before  me,  was  recalled  during 
the  last  weeks  of  his  illness,  and  was  finally  submitted  but  two  weeks 
before  his  death,  complete  to  the  last  detail. 

It  is  perhaps  fitting  in  this  connection  that  a  word  should  be  said  of 
the  remarkable  courage  and  fortitude  exhibited  by  Doctor  McGee  dur- 
ing the  progress  and  culmination  of  the  insidious  malady  (cancer) 
which  caused  his  death.  For  the  benefit  of  humanity  he  made  a  spe- 
cial study  of  his  own  case,  setting  down  calmly  and  imperturbably  the 
progress  of  the  disease  from  its  first  observed  inception,  in  1894,  to  its 
obvious  dominance,  in  April,  1912,  this  diagnosis  being  published  a 
few  days  after  his  death  (Science,  September  13,  1912).  It  thus  ap- 
pears that  for  the  last  fifteen  years  of  his  life  his  work — some  of  it  the 
most  exacting  of  his  career — was  carried  on  in  the  impending  shadow  of 
certain  dissolution,  much  of  it  at  the  last  under  the  stress  of  acute 
physical  suffering,  but  there  was  no  slighting,  no  faltering,  no  repining. 


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Paleolithic  man  in  America;  his  antiquity  and  environment.  Pop.  Sci. 
Mo.,  vol.  34,  1888,  pp.  20-36. 


86  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

[On  some  peculiarities  of  the  superficial  deposits  of  northeast  Iowa.] 
Am.  Geol.,  vol.  2,  1888,  pp.  137,  138. 

An  American  Geologic  Society.     Science,  vol.  13,  1889,  p.  1. 

Geological  antecedents  of  man  in  the  Potomac  Valley.  Am.  Anthrop., 
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[Remarks  on  the  formations  comprised  under  the  term  "orange  sand," 
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WASHINGTON  ACADEMY   OF   SCIENCES  87 

Neocene  and  Pleistocene  continent  movements.  [Abstract.]  Am.  Assoc. 
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The  southern  oil  fields.  Am.  Assoc.  Adv.  ScL,  Proc.,  vol.  40,  1891,  p. 
417. 

The  Pleistocene  history  of  northeastern  Iowa.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  llth 
Ann.  Rept.,  pt.  i,  1891,  pp.  199-557,  pis.  i-lxi,  figs.  1-120.  Abstracts:  Am. 
Geol.,  vol.  xi,  1893,  pp.  178,  179;  Am.  Jour.  ScL,  3d  ser.,  vol.  xlv,  1893,  p. 
71. 

Rock  gas  and  related  bitumens.  Introduction  to  "The  natural  gas  field 
of  Indiana,"  by  A.  J.  Phinney.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  llth  Ann.  Rept.,  pt 
i,  1891,  pp.  589-616. 

Reports  of  the  delegates  to  the  Congres  Geologique  International.  Am. 
Anthrop.,  vol.  5,  1892,  pp.  45-48. 

The  Gulf  of  Mexico  as  a  measure  of  isostasy.  Am.  Jour.  ScL,  3d  ser., 
vol.  xliv,  1892,  pp.  177-192.  Abstracts:  Am.  Geol.,  vol.  xi,  1893,  p.  58; 
Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  Am.,  vol.  3, 1892,  pp.  501-503. 

The  areal  work  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey.  Am.  Geol.,  voL 
x,  1892,  pp.  337-379;  Am.  Inst.  Mining  Engineers,  Trans.,  vol.  21,  1893, 
pp.  608-617. 

The  field  of  geology  and  its  promise  for  the  future.  Minn.  Acad.  Nat. 
ScL,  Bull.,  vol.  iii,  1892,  pp.  191-206. 

A  fossil  earthquake.     Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  Am.,  vol.  4, 1893,  pp.  411-414. 

McGee,  W  J,  with  Williams  (G.  H.),  Willis  (B.),  and  Barton  (N.  H.). 
Geology  of  Washington  and  vicinity.     Int.  Cong.  Geol.,  Compte  Rendu, 
5th  sess.,  1893,  pp.  219-251. 

The  Lafayette  formation.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  12th  Ann.  Rept.,  pt.  i, 
1892,  pp.  353T521.  Abstracts:  Am.  Jour.  ScL,  3d  ser.,  vol.  xlv,  1893,  p. 
163;  Am.  Geol.,  vol.  xiv,  1894,  pp.  115,  116. 

Geological  map  of  the  United  States  and  Canada.  Longman's  New 
School  Atlas.  New  York,  1892. 

Man  and  the  Glacial  period.  Science,  vol.  20, 1892,  p.  317;  Am.  Anthrop. 
vol.  6,  1892,  pp.  85-95. 

Note  on  the  "Age  of  the  earth."     Science,  vol.  21,  1893,  pp.  309,  310. 

A  geological  palimpsest.  The  Literary  Northwest,  vol.  2, 1893,  pp.  274- 
276. 

Geological  map  of  the  United  States,  showing  the  distribution  of  the 
geologic  systems  so  far  as  known  (two  sheets).  Johnson's  Universal 
Cyclopedia,  vol.  3,  1893  (pp.  728-731). 

Reconnaissance  map  of  the  United  States,  showing  the  distribution  of 
the  geologic  systems  so  far  as  known.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  14th  Ann. 
Rept.,  pi.  ii,  1893. 


88  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

Graphic  comparison  of  post-Columbia  and  post-Lafayette  erosion.  Ab- 
stract: Am.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  Proc.,  vol.  xlii,  1894,  p.  179;  Am.  Geol.,  vol. 
xii,  1894,  p.  180. 

[Classification  of  Pleistocene  deposits.]  Int.  Cong.  Geol.,  Compte  Rendu, 
5th  sess.,  1893,  pp.  198-207. 

[Correlation  of  clastic  rocks.]  Int.  Cong.  Geol.,  Compte  Rendu,  5th 
sess.,  1893,  pp.  KO-166. 

[Glacial  phenomena]  in  discussion  of  paper  by  C.  H.  Hitchcock,  "Studies 
of  the  Connecticut  Valley  glacier."  Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  Am.,  vol.  4,  1893,  pp. 
5,  6,  7. 

The  prairies.  Itinerary  from  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  to  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois. Int.  Cong.,  Geol.,  Compte  Rendu,  5th  sess,  1893,  pp.  449-452. 

Preliminary  geologic  map  of  New  York,  exhibiting  the  structure  of  the 
State  so  far  as  known  Published  by  authority  of  the  Legislature  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  1894. 

Glacial  canyons.    Jour.  Geol.,  vol.  ii,  1894,  pp.  350-364. 

The  extension  of  uniformitarianism  to  deformation.  Bull.  Geol.  Soc. 
Am.,  vol.  6,  1894,  pp.  55-70. 

The  potable  waters  of  eastern  United  States.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  14th 
Ann.  Rept.,  pt.  2,  1894,  pp.  1-47,  figs.  1-5. 

[Cenozoic  history  of  eastern  Virginia  and  Maryland.]  Bull.  Geol.  Soc. 
Am.,  vol.  5,  1894,  p.  24. 

[Extra-morainic  drift  of  New  Jersey.]  Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  Am.,  vol.  5, 
1893,  pp.  17,  18. 

[On  the  Columbia  and  Lafayette  formations.]  Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  Am., 
vol.  5,  1894,  p.  100. 

[Terrestrial  submergence  southeast  of  the  American  Continent.]  Bull. 
Geol.  Soc.  Am.,  vol.  5,  1894,  pp.  21,  22. 

The  topographic  development  of  Sonora.  Science,  n.  s.,  vol.  1,1895, 
pp.  558,  559. 

Reconnaissance  map  of  the  United  States.  Am.  Geol.,  vol.  16,  1895, 
pp.  113,  114. 

Canyons  of  the  Colorado.     Science,  n.  s.,  vol.  2,  1895,  pp.  593-597. 

A  miniature  extinct  volcano.  Abstract:  Am.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  Proc., 
vol.  xliii,  1895,  pp.  225,  226. 

Expedition  to  Seriland  [Mexico].  Science,  n.  s.,  vol.  in,  1896,  pp.  493- 
505. 

Two  erosion  epochs.  Another  suggestion.  Science,  n.  s.,  vol.  iii,  1896, 
pp.  796-799. 

Geographic  history  of  the  Piedmont  plateau.  Nat.  Geogr.  Mag.,  vol. 
vii,  1896,  pp.  261-265. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  89 

Honors  to  James  Hall  at  Buffalo.  Science,  n.  s.,  vol.  4,  1896,  pp.  697- 
706. 

The  Mississippi  bed-lands.    The  Forester,  vol.  3,  1897,  p.  7. 

Sheetflood  erosion  [Sonora  district,  Mexico].  Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  Am.,  vol. 
8,  1897,  pp.  87-112,  pis.  10-13. 

Hatcher's  work  in  Patagonia.  Nat.  Geogr.  Mag.,  vol.  8,  1897,  pp.  319- 
322. 

Geographic  development  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  Nat.  Geogr. 
Mag.,  vol.  ix,  1898,  pp.  317-323. 

Prof.  O.  C.  Marsh.    Nat.  Geogr.  Mag.,  vol.  10,  1879,  pp.  181-182. 

The  pre-Lafayette  [Tennessean]  baselevel.  Abstract:  Am.  Assoc.  Adv. 
Sci.,  Proc.,  vol.  xlviii,  1897,  p.  227;  Science,  n.  s.,  vol.  x,  1899,  p.  489. 

Fifty  years  of  American  science.    Atlantic  Monthly,  September,  1898. 

With  Holmes  (W.  H.).  The  geology  and  archaeology  of  California. 
Abstracts:  Am.  Geol.,  vol.  xxiii,  1899,  pp.  96,  99;  Science,  n.  s.,  vol.  ix,  pp. 
104,  105;  Sci.  Am.  Suppl.,  vol.  xlvii,  1899,  p.  19313. 

The  lessons  of  Galveston.    Nat.  Geogr.  Mag.,  vol.  xi,  1900,  pp.  377-383. 

The  Gulf  of  California  as  an  evidence  of  marine  erosion.  Abstract: 
Science,  n.  s.,  vol.  xi,  1900,  p.  429. 

Occurrence  of  the  Pensauken  (?)  formation.  Abstract:  Am.  Assoc.  Adv. 
Sci.,  Proc.,  vol.  xlix,  1900,  p.  187. 

Incomplete  list  of  scientific  writings  and  maps,  by  W  J  McGee,  1878- 
1900,  pp.  1-8  (printed  on  one  side  only).  [Proof — prepared  for  use  of  J. 
W.  Powell— 1901.] 

Soil  erosion.  U.  S.  Dept.  Agric.,  Bureau  of  Soils,  Bull.  No.  71,  1911, 
pp.  1-60,  pis.  i-xxxiii. 

Prospective  population  of  the  United  States.  Science,  n.  s.,  vol.  34,  Oct. 
6,  1911,  pp.  428^135;  Reprint,  pp.  1-15. 

Principles  of  water-power  development.  Science,  n.  s.,  vol-  34,  sec.  15, 
1911,  pp.  813-825;  Reprint,  pp.  1-28. 

Wells  and  subsoil  water.  U.  S.  Dept.  Agric.,  Bureau  of  Soils,  Bull. 
No.  92. 

From  Prof.  Alfred  C.  Lane,  of  Tufts  College: 

I  remember  very  well  one  of  the  times  when  I  came  in  contact  with 
Doctor  McGee,  when  I  happened  to  prepare,  as  he  said,  the  first  paper 
for  the  Geological  Society  of  America  which  contained  mathematics. 
He  wa's  quite  anxious  that  the  paper  should  be  a  model  for  others  and 
took  a  great  deal  of  pains  in  his  editorial  work  to  see  that  it  was  such. 


90  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

Between  editor  and  contributors  of  scientific  publications  there  is 
ample  opportunity  for  friction  and  I  well  remember  the  courteous  care 
with  which  he  made  his  various  suggestions. 

Doctor  McGee  was  one  of  a  type  of  men  whom  there  seems  to  be 
a  tendency  to  crowd  out  now,  but  to  whom  geology  owes  a  very  great 
debt, — men  who  without  conventional  academic  training  have  brought 
to  their  work  the  innate  ability  and  the  keen  interest  which  surmounts 
the  obstacles  that  are  thought  to  come  from  an  early  training  in  other 
directions. 

I  am  very  glad  that  there  is  to  be  a  meeting  in  commemoration  of 
Doctor  McGee  to  call  to  the  attention  of  geologists  the  duty  which 
they  owe  to  the  class  of  men  represented  by  him,  as  well  as  by  Sorby 
and  Walcott,  and  I  am  sure,  too,  that  such  a  meeting,  inspired  by  his 
example,  would  impress  upon  us  the  importance  of  the  duties  we  owe, 
as  men  of  science,  not  merely  to  science,  but  to  the  commonwealths  of 
which  we  are  members. 

From  Miss  Emma  R.  McGee,  of  Farley,  Iowa: 

In  a  quaint  old  farmhouse,  in  the  lovely  State  of  Iowa,  near  the 
City  of  Dubuque,  in  the  county  of  the  same  name,  there  is  a  library 
containing  many  old  volumes,  some  of  which  came  over  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  over  seventy  years  ago.  Among  others  is  the  Good  Book, 
sacred  not  only  on  account  of  it  being  that  of  Holy  Writ,  but  of  its 
Family  Record  in  the  autographs  of  the  departed,  whose  forms  and 
faces  are  seen  only  in  dreamland.  The  fourth  birthdate  of  the  eight 
children  born  to  James  and  Martha  Ann  Anderson  McGee  is  this  one: 
"William  John  McGee,  born  April  17, 1853,  at  Farley,  Iowa."  The 
writer  has  not  yet  acquired  heart  courage  to  make  the  record  which 
should  be  in  this  old  book,  viz:  "Died  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  Septem- 
ber 4,  1912."  He  was  never  christened,  as  mother  was  a  Baptist  and 
the  tenets  of  her  church  did  not  allow  infant  baptism.  For  some 
reason  the  appellation  "Don"  was  given  him  when  a  small  child,  and 
he  was  ever  afterwards  "Don"  to  his  family, schoolmates, and  friends. 
Don  was  a  very  sickly,  delicate  child.  Mother  often  related  how  she 
carried  him  in  her  arms  almost  night  and  day  the  first  years  of  his 
life.  The  attending  physician  told  her  he  had  a  Daniel  Webster 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  91 

head.  Who  this  physician  was,  or  of  his  ability,  we  can  not  say; 
but  there  is  one  thing  certain,  mother  never  made  up  that  story.  It 
might  have  been  in  this  case  as  in  some  others,  mother  love  saved  the 
child  when  the  skill  of  the  ablest  physician  only  played  a  minor  part. 

After  he  was  about  three  years  of  age,  his  health  and  strength  began 
to  improve,  although  he  still  had  a  physical  defect  that  was  afterward 
outgrown.  Possibly  Doctor  McGee  inherited  from  his  ancestry  a  little 
of  their  ruggedness  which  helped  him  to  overcome  the  extreme  weak- 
ness of  childhood.  His  parents  were  of  sturdy  Scotch-Irish  stock, 
his  great-great-grandfather  on  the  parental  side  having  been  Alex- 
ander McGee,  of  County  Down,  Ireland,  who  came  early  to  this  coun- 
try, and  on  the  maternal  side  the  line  leads  back  to  Samuel  Anderson 
who  was  born  at  sea  about  1740,  of  Irish  emigrant  parents.  The 
latter  resided  at  Yorktown,  Virginia,  and  both  participated  in  the 
Revolution  on  the  American  side.  Grandma  Anderson's  maiden 
name  was  Haggard,  whose  ancestry  is  traced  back  many  generations 
to  a  Welsh  family  of  Haggards  living  in  Wales.  They  are  distin- 
guished for  their  longevity.  A  first  cousin  of  mother's,  Nancy  Hag- 
gard Smith,  living  at  Springfield,  Minnesota,  celebrated  her  ninety- 
sixth  birthday  last  April.  She  reads  much  without  spectacles  and 
feels  proud  of  the  fact  that  she  is  related  to  H.  Rider  Haggard,  the 
novelist  of  England. 

It  has  been  said,  "There  is  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends."  It 
has  often  occurred  to  us  in  fancy  that  the  beautiful  place  where 
brother  and  I  were  born  might  have  had  a  trifle  of  influence  in  shap- 
ing his  future  career  and  attainment  of  eminence.  Mother  was  born 
within  two  miles  of  the  great  Mammoth  Cave  of  Kentucky  and  had  a 
discerning  eye  toward  the  beautiful  and  sublime  in  nature.  When  a 
building  spot  was  sought  on  the  land  father  had  entered  from  the 
Government,  mother  selected  a  site  with  so  beautiful  a  landscape 
view  that  it  might  have  driven  to  ecstasies  either  poet  or  artist.  It 
was  on  an  open  prairie  spot  with  a  semi-circle  of  woodland  a  few  rods 
to  the  front  of  where  the  house  was  to  be  located.  There  was  a  fine 
spring  and  large  pond  near  it,  which  added  to  the  charm  of  the  place. 
Directly  in  front  of  our  house  was  the  semi-circle  of  high  forest  trees 
edged  with  smaller  trees  and  shrubs  that  bloomed,  and  when  the  sun 
arose  in  his  glory  and  splendor  seemingly  from  behind  the  great 


92  McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

trees,  the  scene  was  certainly  a  perfect  one.  This  was  in  the  early 
days  of  Iowa  when  forest  primeval  and  all  else  showed  the  work  of  the 
Infinite  Hand  that  makes  no  mistakes.  The  Divine  Artist  is  the 
best  one. 

To  gaze  on  a  scene  of  transcendent  splendor,  which  baffles  the  power 
of  human  tongue  to  describe,  especially  early  in  life,  is  soul  inspiring, 
and  might  have  wielded  a  subtle  influence  over  the  life  of  our  brother 
to  aspire  and  achieve. 

It  is  useless  to  reiterate  anything  about  the  scientific  work  accom- 
lished  by  Doctor  McGee  during  his  life  all  too  short.  It  has  been  told 
and  retold  in  scientific  journals.  It  was  asserted  in  the  long  ago, 
"A  prophet  is  not  without  honor  save  in  his  own  country."  The 
following  item  appeared  in  his  home  paper  (The  Telegraph  Herald, 
published  at  Dubuque,  Iowa)  soon  after  his  demise,  which  is  a  refu- 
tation of  the  old  figure  of  speech : 

Let  it  be  written  imperishably  in  the  records  of  Dubuque  County  that 
one  of  the  greatest  geologists,  anthropologists,  and  hydrologists  this  Nation 
has  produced  was  born  in  Dubuque  County. 

Doctor  W  J  McGee,  whose  death  occurred  in  Washington  last  week, 
was  born  near  Farley,  of  poor  parents.  He  created  his  own  educational 
opportunities,  and  he  wrote  his  name  among  the  men  first  in  the  knowledge 
of  sciences  wholly  by  his  own  unaided  efforts. 

There  are  brain  records  which  time  can  never  efface.  This  is  one 
of  them. 

When  my  brother  left  home  to  enter  his  duties  on  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey,  it  was  with  a  heavy  heart  that  we  bade  him  good- 
bye, for  there  was  a  premonition  at  the  time,  which  was  afterward 
realized,  that  he  was  gone  never  to  return  as  a  link  in  the  chain  of  the 
family  circle.  No  more  could  we  go  to  him  for  counsel,  or  to  obtain 
information  on  any  subject,  as  was  our  wont.  He  frequently  came 
home  afterward  for  a  short  visit,  and  it  was  our  habit  to  go  part  way 
with  him  when  he  departed.  If  the  weather  was  inclement  mother 
objected  to  our  going  out;  but  father  said  to  mother:  "Let  her  go,"  so 
we  went.  Life  has  never  been  quite  the  same  to  his  only  sister  since 
Don  has  been  taken  from  it.  Probably  a  little  sooner  will  she  cross 
the  Mystic  River  than  had  he  tarried  longer.  In  closing,  we  will 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  93 

repeat  a  little  parody  on  the  lines  of  Scott,  which  expresses  our 
sentiments : 

Brother  rest,  thy  life  work  o'er, 

Sleep  the  sleep  that  knows  not  breaking; 

Dream  of  troubled  times  no  more, 
Morn  of  toil  nor  night  of  waking. 

From  W.  C.  Mendenhall,  of  Washington,  D.  C. 

Doctor  W  J  McGee  had  mastered  and  advocated  the  fundamental 
principles  of  Conservation  long  before  the  majority  of  those  now 
most  active  in  the  movement  had  come  to  appreciate  the  real  mean- 
ing of  the  word.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  this  movement,  was 
at  all  times  one  of  the  most  stimulating  thinkers  in  its  councils,  and 
in  him  Mr.  Pinchot  found  one  of  his  most  loyal  supporters  and 
friends.  Doctor  McGee  was  the  personification  of  strength  and 
steadfastness  in  the  pioneer  period  of  Conservation,  when  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  was  unknown  to  the  multitude,  and  when  the  mere 
suggestion  that  our  natural  resources  are  not  inexhaustible,  but 
may  be  depleted  to  the  vanishing  point  by  wasteful  use,  was  regarded 
as  a  wild  heresy.  During  the  sessions  of  the  National  Conserva- 
tion Congress  he  was  its  accepted  authority  on  problems  involving 
that  most  widespread  and  universally  distributed  of  our  natural 
resources — water.  He  has  dealt  with  this  resource  from  the  points  of 
view  of  transportation,  of  irrigation,  and  of  power,  and  from  the 
standpoint  of  biology,  in  which  it  is  recognized  as  fundamental  in  all 
life. 

Doctor  McGee's  mind  was  of  the  type  of  the  intellectual  pioneer, 
intensely  individual  and  original.  He  was  masterful  in  the  alignment 
of  facts  and  stimulating  in  the  recognition  and  boldness  of  his  ex- 
pression of  the  generalizations  and  far-reaching  conclusions  to  which 
his  marshalled  facts  pointed.  Like  most  men  of  brilliant  imagina- 
tion, he  was  at  times  impatient  of  the  slow  processes  of  research,  or 
let  us  say  rather  that  his  impatience  was  with  that  timidity  in  reaching 
conclusions  so  often  displayed  by  those  engaged  in  research,  rather 
than  with  the  process  itself.  He  believed  that  the  scientist's  practi- 
cal rule  of  life  should  be  the  acceptance,  as  a  basis  of  action,  of  the 


94  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

conclusions  indicated  by  such  facts  as  are  known,  even  though  those 
conclusions  may  not  at  present  be  definitely  established. 

Doctor  McGee's  death  at  the  Cosmos  Club  on  September  4, 
1912,  removed  from  the  domain  of  science  and  from  the  forum  of 
public  discussion  one  of  its  leading  personalities.  His  career  em- 
braced an  unusually  wide  range  of  activities,  and  in  each  of  these  he 
attained  distinction.  As  a  geologist  he  was  one  of  the  group  assem- 
bled by  Major  Powell  during  the  formative  period  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey,  a  group  which  made  American  geology 
classic  and  its  leaders  world-leaders  in  their  science.  In  this  field 
McGee's  name  is  associated  with  the  names  of  Powell,  Button,  Gil- 
bert, Holmes,  Emmons,  and  Hague.  Later,  with  the  establishment 
of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  into  which  he  followed  Major  Powell, 
he  became  a  pioneer  in  ethnological  research,  although  retaining  con- 
tinually his  interest  in  geologic  and  geographic  problems.  At  the 
time  of  his  death  and  for  a  few  years  prior  thereto,  he  was  the  erosion 
and  hydrologic  expert  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  his  immediate 
connections  with  that  department  being  through  the  Bureau  of  Soils. 
His  last  years  are  distinguished  by  a  number  of  papers  on  the  subject 
of  Conservation,  in  which  he  was  so  vitally  interested;  these  articles 
are  broad  in  their  scope,  thoroughly  original  and  stimulating  in  their 
expression,  and  point  out  fearlessly  some  dangers  of  present  practice 
and  suggest  methods  of  remedy.  But  a  few  days  before  his  death 
he  completed  the  correction  of  the  galley  proofs  of  the  last  of  his 
papers,  faithful  to  his  work  and  to  his  duty  even  while  descending 
into  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow. 

This  very  brief  sketch  would  not  be  complete  without  expressed 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  Doctor  McGee's  attitude  in  the  face  of 
death  was  in  accordance  with  the  best  traditions  of  the  science  to 
which  his  life  had  been  devoted  and  was  as  admirable  and  as  deeply 
stirring  and  stimulating  as  any  act  of  his  career.  For  a  year  or  more 
he  had  recognized  the  fact  that  he  was  afflicted  with  cancer  and  that 
his  days  were  numbered.  He  faced  this  fact  calmly  and  prepared  pa- 
tiently for  the  inevitable  by  carefully  completing  all  work  on  hand 
and  by  disposing  by  will  of  his  body  and  his  brain  to  his  friend  and 
fellow  scientist,  Doctor  Spitzka,  to  be  used  in  the  way  most  likely  to 
be  beneficial  to  humanity.  So  long  as  his  faculties  remained  un- 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  95 

dimmed,  he  maintained  the  same  keen  interest  in  scientific  questions 
and  current  affairs  that  had  marked  his  career  at  its  height.  Those 
of  his  friends  who  visited  him  during  the  last  few  weeks  of  his  life 
heard  not  a  single  complaint  nor  an  expression  of  regret,  but  found 
themselves  chatting  easily  with  an  old  and  honored  friend  who  gave 
no  indication  of  the  fact  that  he  knew  definitely  that  his  career  was 
soon  to  be  stayed  by  the  hand  of  Death.  Thus,  rising  superior  to  the 
weakened  pain-racked  body,  he  met  with  philosophic  calm  and 
sublime  courage  the  final  inevitable  test.  It  is  not  given  to  man  to 
do  more  than  this. 

\ 
From  Doctor  George  P.  Merrill,  of  the  United  States  National 

Museum : 

Though  I  can  not  claim  to  have  been  intimate  with  Doctor  McGee, 
my  acquaintance  covered  practically  the  entire  period  of  his  connec- 
tion with  the  government  bureaus.  Our  relations  were  always 
friendly,  if  not  confidential.  I  remember  him  as  uniformly  courteous, 
always  ready  and  willing  to  give  consideration  to  any  worthy  question 
brought  forward,  open  to  suggestions,  frank  in  criticism.  He  had  an 
unusual  capacity  for  adapting  himself  to  a  wide  range  of  work  and 
conditions.  This  is  illustrated  to  some  extent  by  his  published 
bibliography,  but  which  gives  little  clue  to  his  capacity  for  organi- 
zation and  his  abilities  as  an  editor,  both  of  which  found  ample  scope 
during  the  early  years  of  the  Geological  Society  of  America. 

He  had  also  a  remarkable  faculty  for  absorbing  and  utilizing  in- 
formation on  subjects  not  directly  connected  with  his  own  special  line 
of  work.  To  illustrate  this  I  need  only  call  attention  to  his  article 
on  "  Fifty  Years  of  American  Science,"  published  in  the  Atlantic 
Monthly  for  September,  1898,  or  his  Vice-Presidential  address  before 
Section  H  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 
for  the  year  previous. 

Were  I  to  advance  a  criticism  it  would  be  to  the  effect  that  his  plans 
were  often  detailed  and  comprehensive  beyond  a  possibility  of  ac- 
complishment. This  trait  was  brought  forcibly  to  my  attention  in 
connection  with  a  fragmentary  manuscript  relating  to  a  history  of 
American  state  geological  and  natural  history  surveys  to  which  I 


96  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

fell  heir.  So  far-reaching  and  detailed  was  the  general  scope  as  out- 
lined in  his  synopsis,  it  would  have  been  impossible  of  execution  even 
had  the  original  leaders  in  the  various  organizations  remained  to  par- 
ticipate. In  short,  the  plan  seems  to  have  fallen  through  from  its 
own  weight.  But  such  a  failing  was  perhaps  a  necessary  consequence 
of  an  almost  super-abundance  of  ideas,  and  it  was  by  no  means  without 
its  compensating  features. 

Were  I  to  attempt  a  summation  of  his  chief  characteristics  as  they 
impressed  themselves  upon  me,  and  this  in  the  few  words  that  I  feel 
can  be  allotted  me  here,  I  would  say  that  for  wide  interest  in  scientific 
matters,  fecundity  of  ideas  and  mental  vigor,  he  was  by  all  odds  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  men  with  whom  it  has  been  my  lot  to  associate. 

From  Senator  Francis  G.  Newlands  of  Nevada: 

I  greatly  regretted  that  I  was  not  able  to  speak  at  the  Memorial 
meeting,  and  to  pay  my  tribute  to  the  character  and  memory  of  our 
dear  friend,  Doctor  McGee.  I  had  always  had  a  great  admiration 
for  his  scholarship,  knowledge,  and  attainments,  but  I  never  got  a  real 
insight  of  his  nature  and  character  until  we  served  together  with  him 
on  the  Waterways  Commission  appointed  by  President  Roosevelt. 

Our  long  journey  over  the  waterways  of  the  country  was  illuminated 
by  his  vast  information,  resourcefulness,  imagination,  humor,  and 
practical  judgment.  Self-effacement  is  not  an  uncommon  quality  in 
those  who  delight  to  serve  the  public,  but  I  have  never  known  such 
self-effacement  as  that  of  our  friend  McGee.  The  question  of  personal 
credit  or  repute  never  seemed  to  enter  his  mind.  A  sense  of  service 
was  his  controlling  impulse,  and  that  without  any  thought  whatever  of 
selfish  reward  either  in  fame  or  emolument. 

I  saw  him  several  times  during  his  last  illness.  The  sense  of  its 
incurability  would  have  depressed  the  mental  activity  of  others,  but 
it  did  not  seem  to  affect  the  operation  of  his  great  humane  and  kindly 
mind.  His  self-obliteration  was  as  apparent  in  illness  as  it  was  in 
health. 

I  have  missed  his  aid  and  cooperation  in  the  great  work  that  we 
have  been  engaged  in,  that  of  the  conservation  of  our  waters  for 
every  useful  purpose  and  the  mitigation  of  their  destructive  effects, 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY   OF   SCIENCES  97 

thus  turning  our  floods  from  a  menace  into  a  blessing.  No  greater 
domestic  question  is  before  the  country  today  for  its  consideration,  and 
it  is  a  great  misfortune  that  we  have  not  the  advantage  of  his  energetic 
cooperation  and  of  his  strong  and  lovable  qualities. 

From  Governor  E.  F.  Noel,  of  Mississippi: 

During  my  term  of  four  years  as  Governor  of  Mississippi,  1908-12, 
and  to  some  extent  before  and  afterwards,  I  participated  in  a  number 
of  gatherings  in  which  the  investigation,  development,  and  conserva- 
tion of  our  national  resources  were  among  the  leading  themes.  On 
many  of  these  occasions,  Doctor  McGee  was  present  as  an  honored, 
useful,  and  exceedingly  efficient  member.  When  absent,  his  indus- 
trious researches  and  reports  constituted  one  of  the  valuable  and 
frequently  utilized  resources  for  data  and  argument. 

In  1910,  upon  invitation  of  the  legislature  and  Governor  of  Missis- 
sippi, Doctor  McGee  delivered  in  the  Legislative  Hall  of  our  State  a 
very  able  and  interesting  address  as  to  the  character  and  utilization  of 
our  State's  natural  resources,  doubtless  the  strongest  and  clearest  dis- 
cussion of  that  subject  ever  made.  His  treatment,  masterly  and  prac- 
tical, proved  his  thorough  knowledge  of  all  of  its  phases,  and  his 
ability  to  picture  it  in  an  instructive  and  convincing  manner.  There 
and  everywhere  his  services  ranked  him  high  among  our  Nation's 
patriotic  and  effective  workers,  entitling  him  to  lasting  and  grateful 
remembrance. 

In  behalf  of  Mississippi  and  of  Mississippians,  we  gladly  join  in 
acknowledgment  of  his  high  worth  and  of  our  being  his  appreciative 
debtor. 

From  Mr.  M.  W.  Patterson,  Secretary  to  Doctor  McGee: 

Having  been  intimately  associated  with  Doctor  McGee  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  private  secretary  during  the  last  five  years  of  his  life,  I  was 
afforded  an  opportunity  to  observe  certain  personal  characteristics, 
evidenced  in  his  habits  and  methods  in  every-day  life  and  work,  a 
reference  to  which  may  not  be  without  interest.  Doctor  McGee  was 
a  hard,  persistent  worker,  and  while  the  work  was  trying  and  difficult 
at  times,  I  look  back  to  my  experience  with  him  with  no  little  satis- 


98  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

faction.  The  period  during  which  I  was  associated  with  him  was 
made  pleasant  by  the  kindness  and  the  charming  personality  of  the 
man,  profitable  by  the  training  received  under  his  elevating  educa- 
tional influence,  inspiring  by  the  magnitude  of  his  interests,  and  dis- 
tinctively interesting  throughout  by  the  diversity  and  originality  of 
his  work. 

On  intimate  acquaintance  Doctor  McGee  could  only  be  regarded 
as  a  big-hearted,  clean,  liberal-minded  gentleman.  His  very  ap- 
pearance reflected  an  inherent  dignity;  his  deliberate  determined 
manner,  together  with  his  honesty  of  purpose,  inspired  respect.  Yet 
beneath  the  apparent  sternness  and  austerity  of  the  man  there  was  a 
certain  simplicity,  a  genuine  sincerity,  an  unfailing  courtesy,  which 
aroused  the  admiration  and  love  of  a  host  of  friends.  I  was  always 
impressed  by  his  uniformly  amiable  disposition.  Throughout  my 
connection  with  him  he  never  addressed  a  cross  or  unkind  work  to  me; 
in  the  place  of  criticism  or  complaint,  entirely  justifiable  at  times  per- 
haps, there  was  only  such  encouragement  and  constructive  suggestion 
for  those  assisting  him  as  to  inspire  diligent  and  conscientious  effort. 
Doctor  McGee  was  a  man  of  almost  austere  personal  habits,  yet 
always  ready  to  find  excuse  for  the  faults  of  others. 

In  his  work  his  methods  were  distinctive.  Referred  to  as  eccen- 
tric by  some,  these  very  eccentricities  were  merely  indicative  of  that 
originality  which  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  constructive  genius. 
Although  his  ideas  were  remarkably  broad  and  comprehensive,  he 
gave  particular  attention  to  the  smallest  details.  A  chaotic  arrange- 
ment of  materials — the  mass  of  literature  and  correspondence  which 
he  insisted  on  keeping  on  his  desk — presented  an  appearance  of  con- 
fusion. Yet  the  orderly  prosecution  of  his  work  was  in  itself  an 
evidence  of  a  well  developed,  well  balanced,  and,  above  all,  a  sys- 
tematic mentality.  Every  subject  apparently  was  carefully  studied 
and  digested  and  stored  in  an  orderly  arrangement  in  his  brain,  and 
this  probably  explains  his  wonderful  memory,  even  for  details.  He 
met  each  task  as  it  came,  and  concentrating  his  efforts  on  the  par- 
ticular matter  at  hand  continued  his  work  uninterruptedly,  often  dis- 
regarding the  passage  of  hours  or  days,  until  it  was  brought  to  a 
satisfactory  conclusion. 

His  writings  were  dictated,  always  without  references  before  him, 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  99 

and  after  revision  of  the  first  rough  draft  the  second  transcript 
usually  represented  the  finished  product,  a  third  or  fourth  copy  sel- 
dom being  necessary.  Yet  his  writings  were  noteworthy  for  their 
sustained  elevation  of  tone  and  purpose  no  less  than  for  their  form, 
their  completeness  and  conciseness,  made  possible  by  an  unparalleled 
vocabulary.  His  dictation  was  extremely  slow  and  careful.  In  pre- 
paring articles  for  publication  he  often  dictated  continuously  for  sev- 
eral hours,  alternately  pacing  the  floor  and  sitting  at  his  desk,  fre- 
quently continuing  the  day's  work  at  the  office  for  a  few  hours  in  the 
evening  at  his  club;  yet  the  transcription  of  the  matter  dictated 
might  require  only  a  few  minutes.  He  indicated  paragraphing  and 
punctuation,  and  after  his  final  reading  of  the  manuscript  nothing 
remained  for  the  editor  but  to  indicate  to  the  printer  that  it  was  to  be 
followed  literally.  In  his  correspondence,  even  the  shortest  letters, 
this  same  care  was  observed.  His  every  letter  reflected  formality  and 
courtesy.  It  was  his  unfailing  habit  in  making  reference,  whether 
complimentary  or  otherwise,  to  third  persons  to  send  duplicates  of 
the  letter  written  to  all  parties  interested. 

His  courteous  manner  and  his  generous  disposition  were,  I  think, 
the  most  striking  of  his  personal  characteristics.  Doctor  McGee  was 
absolutely  devoted  to  the  public  service,  and  it  was  in  this  connection 
that  his  generosity  was  most  impressive.  At  all  times  willing  to 
make  any  sacrifice  for  any  cause  designed  to  subserve  the  public  in- 
terest, he  was  absolutely  indifferent  to  personal  gain,  desiring  only  the 
opportunity  to  pursue  with  a  free  hand  the  work  in  which  he  was 
most  interested.  While  he  received  a  fairly  substantial  salary,  he 
used  only  about  a  third  of  his  income  for  personal  expenses,  the  re- 
mainder being  set  aside  for  the  use  or  benefit  of  others  under  condi- 
tions which  to  most  men  would  have  carried  no  sense  of  obligation. 
His  work  was  not  directed  toward  personal  advancement.  With  a 
supreme  confidence  in  his  own  carefully  formulated  ideas,  his  greatest 
function  in  life  seemed  to  be  in  the  education  and  inspiration  of  other 
workers  to  train  their  efforts  toward  effectuating  the  broad  and  far- 
sighted  plans  he  outlined — in  blazing  new  trails,  opening  new  fields 
of  research,  and  pointing  out  the  enormous  possibilities  involved  in 
following  these  new  lines  of  endeavor — and  in  all  adding  materially 
to  organized  knowledge. 


100  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

The  breadth  and  comprehensiveness  of  his  convictions  are  best  illus- 
trated by  the  policies  of  waterway  improvement  which  he  advocated — 
and  very  largely  initiated;  his  ability  to  grasp  and  to  make  clear  prob- 
lems of  far-reaching  complexity  is  shown  by  his  manner  of  dealing 
with  complicated  conservation  questions;  and  these  were  the  two  great 
things  with  which  Doctor  McGee  was  most  deeply  concerned.  Work 
which  he  had  outlined  for  himself  was  often  neglected  in  order  that 
he  might  take  time  to  help  another.  Whenever  asked  for  criticisms 
or  suggestions,  they  were  always  given  freely  and  frankly,  without  any 
evidence  of  jealousy  of  the  results  of  his  own  efforts,  and  were  always 
either  constructive  in  their  nature,  or  merely  offered  in  the  form  of 
commendation.  It  was  in  this  phase  of  his  work  that  the  remarkably 
wide  field  his  interests  covered  was  indicated ;  he  seemed  interested  in 
practically  every  branch  of  science.  The  material  published  over  his 
own  name  represents  but  a  part  of  his  work.  A  great  number  of  con- 
tributions were  made  by  him  in  the  form  of  interviews  with  other 
writers  or  material  prepared  for  the  use  of  co-workers,  so  that  for  an 
enormous  amount  of  work  the  Doctor  himself  never  received  personal 
credit.  He  never  hesitated  to  depart  from  beaten  paths,  conse- 
quently he  was  not  without  enemies,  who,  however,  in  most  cases 
seemed  by  directing  criticism  toward  a  mode  of  approach  or  a  single 
step  in  a  far-reaching  plan  merely  to  emphasize  their  own  limitations. 

Physically  Doctor  McGee  was  a  big,  strong,  well-preserved  man. 
His  energy  and  endurance  were  remarkable;  even  during  periods  of 
temporary  inactivity  he  reflected  a  dormant  potentiality.  Although 
apparently  in  excellent  health,  he  had  noted  for  twelve  or  fifteen  years 
certain  physical  infirmities,  the  nature  of  which  he  never  definitely 
understood  until  during  the  summer  of  1910  he  submitted  to  an  opera- 
tion. At  this  time  the  true  nature  of  his  trouble  was  discovered. 
After  this  operation  his  health  failed  steadily,  and  in  June,  1912,  he 
suffered  a  fall,  which,  to  use  his  own  expression,  put  him  on  his  back 
and  gave  the  great  trouble  its  innings.  It  was  seen  then  that  it  was 
only  a  matter  of  weeks  when  the  end  would  come;  and  it  was  during 
this  last  sad  chapter  of  his  life  that  his  true  character  was  most  clearly 
shown.  Confined  to  the  room  at  his  club  which  he  made  his  home, 
attended  by  a  few  friends  only,  and  neglected  by  those  who  by  all  the 
laws  of  nature  should  have  been  nearest  him,  the  courage  and  cheer- 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  101 

fulness  of  the  man  throughout  were  truly  remarkable  None  real- 
ized more  clearly  than  he  the  hopelessness  of  his  case,  or  knew  better 
when  the  end  might  be  expected.  It  was  a  painful  experience  to  be 
called  on  to  assist  in  the  systematic  closing  of  his  affairs.  He  care- 
fully directed  from  his  bed  the  completion  of  the  work  he  had  under 
way  at  the  time  of  his  accident,  resigned  his  active  positions  in  various 
organizations,  and  advised  friends  and  colleagues  of  the  anticipated 
end.  He  dictated  his  will,  which  is  convincing  evidence  of  his  abhor- 
rence of  waste,  his  absolute  devotion  to  science  and  the  public  interest, 
and  of  his  thoughtfulness  of  others. 

Owing  to  his  wonderful  vitality  he  lingered  longer  than  the  at- 
tending physicians  anticipated,  passing  away  quietly  and  peacefully 
during  a  period  of  unconsciousness  in  the  early  morning  of  September 
4,  1912. 

Much  has  been  said  by  Doctor  McGee's  associates  to  indicate  the 
loss  to  science,  to  progress,  and  to  humanity  his  death  entails,  and 
it  is  a  privilege  to  add  this  testimony  that  his  greatness  as  a  scientist 
was  enhanced  by  his  admirable  personal  characteristics. 

From  Doctor  R.  A.  F.  Penrose,  Jr.,  of  Philadelphia: 

My  first  recollection  of  Doctor  McGee  was  when  he  went  to  Ar- 
kansas in  1891  or  1892  to  study  the  tertiary  deposits  of  the  southern 
part  of  that  State.  I  was  at  that  time  assistant  geologist  on  the 
Arkansas  Geological  Survey  under  Dr.  J.  C.  Branner,  who  was  State 
geologist.  I  met  Dr.  McGee  in  Little  Rock  and  accompanied  him 
for  a  few  days  on  his  trip  through  the  southwestern  part  of  the  State. 
His  wonderful  energy  and  his  quick  grasp  of  the  salient  features  of  the 
geology  of  the  region  in  which  he  was  traveling  left  a  lasting  impres- 
sion on  me.  I  was  at  that  time  working  on  the  geology  of  the  iron 
ores  of  the  same  region,  and  the  kindly  interest  Dr.  McGee  took 
in  my  work,  as  well  as  his  pertinent  suggestions,  were  a  great  stimulus 
to  me  in  these  investigations. 

This  trip  in  Arkansas  was  the  only  time  that  I  ever  traveled  with 
Doctor  McGee,  and  I  never  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  associated 
with  him  in  any  of  his  other  work,  but  I  often  met  him  afterward  in 
Washington  and  at  geological  meetings.  He  was  always  the  kind, 


102  McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

considerate  man  that  I  had  met  first  in  Arkansas,  always  taking  an 
interest  in  the  work  of  the  younger  geologists,  and  encouraging  them 
by  good  advice  and  suggestions.  It  was  in  these  later  years  that  I 
learned  to  appreciate  his  remarkable  versatility,  which  enabled  him 
to  apply  his  strong  intellectual  powers  to  widely  separated  scientific 
subjects,  so  that  he  was  a  welcome  member  at  all  discussions,  and  a 
much  sought  advisor  in  many  an  intricate  question. 

In  the  death  of  Doctor  McGee,  I  feel  that  the  world  at  large  has 
lost  an  able  scientist,  and  that  those  who  knew  him  have,  in  addition, 
lost  a  sincere  and  sympathetic  friend. 

From  Mrs.  A.  E.  Ford-Reel,  of  the  United  States  Forest  Service: 

When  I  promised  to  send  something  for  the  McGee  memorial 
volume  it  seemed  that  the  preparation  of  such  a  paper  would  be  the 
simplest  and  easiest  thing  conceivable;  but  I  find  myself,  after  in- 
numerable attempts,  still  utterly  unable  to  crystallize  and  place  on 
paper  in  cold,  bare  words  the  wealth  of  fragrant  memories  which 
abide  with  me.  You  see,  Fourth  Dimensional  things  won't  go  into 
Third  Dimensional  words.  So  I  shall  just  write — somewhat  freely 
and  informally — some  of  the  characteristic  little  things  I  recall; 
leaving  to  his  nearer  friends  and  to  his  colleagues  all  record  of  the 
Doctor's  work,  his  attainments,  and  his  place  in  the  world  of  Science. 

There  is  so  much  that  ought  to  be  said  of  him  just  as  the  man,  the 
friendly,  courteous,  human  self  of  the  man;  and  to  those  of  us  who 
saw  him  constantly,  day  after  day,  every  day,  month  after  month  and 
year  after  year,  that  rare  and  radiant  memory  must  in  the  last  analysis 
completely  overshadow — or  outshine — all  other  sides  of  a  great  and 
many-sided  personality.  When  the  Doctor  first  came  to  St.  Louis, 
early  in  1903,  to  take  up  for  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  the 
stupendous  task  of  organizing  and  vitalizing  a  Department  of  An- 
thropology, he  wrought  against  seemingly  hopeless  odds.  You  know 
how  brilliantly  he  succeeded  in  this  work,  bringing  together  the  most 
extensive  concourse  of  the  world's  peoples  ever  planned,  but  no  one 
outside  his  office  could  know  what  herculean  force  it  took,  during  the 
formative  period,  to  carry  out  this  tremendous  undertaking.  The 
marvel  of  the  man  was  his  persistent  energy,  his  untiring  patience,  his 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  103 

definite  holding  to  purpose,  his  accomplishment  of  the  impossible — in 
the  face  of  hopeless  inertia,  supreme  lack  of  interest,  and  utterly  in- 
adequate financial  support.  But  he  did  it!  And  with  it  all,  kept 
sweet — ever  serenely  kind,  ever  quietly  and  gently  determined,  ever 
the  uniformly  courteous,  steadfastly  righteous,  victoriously  efficient 
leader  and  chief. 

We  always  called  him  "the  Chief" — the  name  fitted  him  as  no 
lesser  title  could.  And  how  all  the  queer  folk  loved  him,  the  gentle, 
sweet-natured,  responsive  Ainu;  the  chattering,  pranksome  Pygmies; 
the  grave,  stolid  Tehuelche,  and  even  the  passive,  undemonstrative 
Indians  of  every  tribe.  They  all  adored  him,  just  as  we  did — for  his 
was  "the  understanding  heart."  Never  shall  I  forget  the  picture  all 
these  strange  folks  made  as  they  straggled  back  across  the  fields  to  the 
Exposition  grounds  from  some  fiesta  held  at  Delnar  Race  Track  to 
which  the  Doctor  had  taken  his  flock  one  summer  Sunday  during  the 
exposition  period.  Led  by  the  Chief,  with  whom  walked  old  Geroni- 
mo,  they  trailed  along  in  the  heart  of  the  sunset  over  the  hills, — In- 
dians and  Ainu,  Pygmies  and  Patagonians,  Japanese  and  Filipino, — 
red,  black,  yellow,  and  white,  each  in  his  own  tongue  and  in  his  own 
way  going  over  the  afternoon's  fun — surely  the  most  startling  and 
never-to-be-forgotten  procession  of  primitive  peoples  in  all  America. 

He  was  so  kind  to  them,  and  to  all  of  us.  He  was  so  just  and  con- 
siderate. He  thought  straight.  He  "never  even  knew  the  name  of 
fear."  He  was  of  all  men  one  who  saw  life  clearly,  and  saw  it  whole. 
He  never  spared  himself,  never  thought  of  self.  Never,  in  all  the 
years  I  served  him,  never  once  did  I  know  him  to  think  or  say  or  do 
an  inconsiderate,  or  an  unjust,  or  an  unkind  thing.  And  yet  no  man 
could  be  so  stern  and  so  relentless  toward  the  wrongdoer,  if  neces- 
sary. There  was  no  excuse  for  any  wrong,  or  any  mistake.  He  de- 
manded the  best — and  he  got  it,  for  he  gave  the  best.  He  had  the 
rare  faculty  of  inspiring  and  holding  devoted  personal  loyalty  and 
unswerving  allegiance.  More  than  anyone  I  have  ever  known 
he  exemplified  the  incomparable,  indomitable  courage  of  William 
Vaughan  Moody's  "Fire  Bringer." 

He  didn't  preach,  he  just  lived  all  the  things  he  expected  from  us. 
I  shall  never  forget  his  saying,  .toward  the  close  of  one  particularly 
turbulent  Saturday,  "Now  remember — the  Golden  Text  for.tomor- 


104  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

row,  is  'Patience,  and  Tolerance,  and  Reticence."'  Seems  to  me 
that's  a  pretty  fair  "Golden  Rule"  in  itself.  It  has  stood  by  me 
many  a  time  when  the  hasty  word  almost  spoke  itself. 

No  one  was  ever  so  royally  generous  of  his  time,  of  his  unparalleled 
store  of  knowledge,  of  himself.  Although  never  really  well  from  the 
time  I  first  knew  him  over  ten  years  ago,  he  never  spared  himself 
even  when  suffering.  He  seemed  able  to  inhibit  the  personal  ele- 
ment, to  eliminate  the  personal  equation.  In  thought  and  theories 
he  was  fifty  years  ahead  of  his  times,  but  when  associated  with  great 
movements  he  never  cared  to  have  his  own  name  featured,  but  with  the 
modesty  of  the  truly  great  soul  he  quietly  pursued  his  upward  way, 
inspiring  and  carrying  onward  with  him  all  who  came  to  him  for 
counsel  and  courage. 

In  his  writings  he  possessed  the  most  remarkable  felicity  of  ex- 
pression, choosing  unerringly  the  one  right  word.  The  strain  of  Irish 
blood  showed  in  the  vein  of  poetry — the  vein  of  sadness,  which  are 
born  at  a  birth  with  Irish  humour  and  Irish  wit.  It  was  more  than  a 
liberal  education  to  work  for  him  and  with  him,  for  he  was  more  than 
an  unusually  remarkable  man;  he  was  a  rare  wonder  of  a  man,  an 
all-round,  every-sided  marvel  of  a  man. 

His  far-sighted,  clear-headed  grasp  of  things,  his  knowledge  and 
force  and  high  hopefulness,  were — nay,  are  an  inspiration  to  all  who 
fathered  the  Conservation  movement, — and  to  all  whose  lives  he 
touched.  Rugged,  and  simple,  and  strongly  individual  in  his  whole 
life,  nothing  so  gloriously  proclaims  the  rare  quality  and  great  white 
soul  of  the  man  as  the  manner  of  his  leaving  this  life. 

Whether  or  not  he  himself  believed  in  "ultimate  continuity"  (as 
Sir  Oliver  Lodge  has  it)  as  essential  to  science,  we — who  so  truly  love 
and  reverence  the  splendid  memory  of  this  invincible  spirit,  this  tri- 
umphantly victorious  soul — must  needs  know  (with  Sir  Oliver)  "that 
memory  and  affection  are  not  limited  to  that  association  with  matter 
by  which  alone  they  can  manifest  themselves  here  and  now,  and  that 
personality  persists  beyond  bodily  death."  And  though  we  said 
"Artemidorus,  farewell!"  we  can  not  credit  that  so  valiant  a  soul 
could  die,  could  pass  to  that  last  strange  change,  could  perish  from 
itself  and  cease  to  be.  Surely  his  departure  from  our  sight  is  but 
another  step  forward  in  the  unceasing  progress. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  105 

From  Doctor  Oswald  Schreiner,  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Soils: 

I  knew  Doctor  Me  Gee  only  during  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  so 
rich  in  experience  and  attainments.  Recognizing  his  great  personal 
force  and  his  devotion  to  lofty  ideals,  to  broad  conceptions  of  science, 
and  to  the  men  who  like  himself  labored  for  these  things,  it  became  a 
matter  of  regret  to  me  that  I  had  not  had  the  inspiration  of  his 
guidance  earlier.  His  charming  personality,  his  truly  wonderful 
power  of  expressing  himself,  and  his  great  ability  to  see  the  inter- 
relationship of  things,  had  the  effect  of  inspiring  me  with  a  renewed 
energy  to  labor  on  the  difficult  problems  we  were  discussing,  although 
I  could  not  always  subscribe  to  the  deductions  made.  Though  in- 
terested to  some  degree  in  the  controlled  results  of  modern  laboratory 
science,  he  concerned  himself  much  more  with  the  broad  philosophies 
based  on  observations  in  nature's  own  laboratory.  He  was  a  pro- 
found student  of  the  great  out-of-doors;  he  was  a  close  observer,  and 
had  a  retentive  memory  for  even  the  minutest  details  of  observations 
made  as  far  back  as  his  boyhood  days  in  Iowa,  as  I  had  occasion  to 
discover  when  we  were  discussing  the  occurrence  and  origin  of  the 
black  coal-like  fragments  of  soil  organic  matter.  His  ideas  on  soils  I 
found  extremely  suggestive  and  helpful,  though  in  the  cold  light  of 
experimental  science  they  seemed  sometimes  to  go  beyond  the  demon- 
strated facts. 

As  the  science  of  chemistry  is  by  nature  a  laboratory  study,  he 
seemed  less  in  sympathy  with  chemical  philosophy  than  with  those  of 
other  sciences.  Atomistic  concepts  of  matter  seemed  to  appeal  little 
to  him.  From  such  discussions  he  would  wander  to  the  broader  con- 
ceptions of  the  structure  of  the  universe,  and  thus  give  a  cosmic  in- 
terpretation to  all  concepts  of  matter.  His  cosmic  concepts  inter- 
ested me,  almost  charmed  me  by  their  boldness,  yet  I  must  frankly 
confess  that  at  times  his  philosophy  was  not  very  clear  to  me.  To 
inanimate  matter  he  appeared  almost  to  attribute  functions  and  even 
motives  of  action.  Although  admittedly  an  agnostic,  yet  he  seemed 
at  times  on  the  very  verge  of  pantheism. 

Doctor  McGee  was  a  constant  source  of  inspiration  and  he  gave 
freely  of  his  vast  learning  to  all  who  came  to  him  with  earnestness 


106  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

of  purpose,  proving  himself  always  a  sympathetic  critic  and  counsellor. 
His  great  devotion  to  the  public  interest,  which  was  evident  in  all  his 
actions  and  showed  itself  in  all  his  plans,  needs  no  especial  comment 
from  me.  In  his  duty  to  the  public,  he  always  served  to  the  best  of 
his  ability.  I  deem  it  a  great  privilege  to  have  been  counted  among 
his  friends,  and  my  good  fortune  to  have  been  his  colleague  in  related 
lines  of  scientific  inquiry. 

From  Doctor  Eugene  A.  Smith,  State  Geologist  of  Alabama: 

Doctor  McGee  visited  Alabama  and  was  my  guest  many  times 
when  our  Coastal  Plain  work  was  in  progress.  That  was  during  the 
"  eighties."  I  found  his  suggestions  of  the  very  greatest  value,  and 
was  most  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  him  in  his  contention  that  the 
lithologic  and  stratigraphic  characters  of  our  Coastal  Plain  formation 
were  entitled  to  as  much  weight  as  the  Paleontological,  and  that  a 
geological  map  should  show  all  these  characters  and  subdivisions 
wherever  they  could  be  consistently  followed  out.  In  other  words,  a 
geological  map  should  not  necessarily,  and  in  many  cases  not  even 
desirably,  be  a  paleontological  map. 

The  Atlantic  Coast  equivalent  of  Hilgard's  Orange  Sand  was  named 
by  McGee  Appomatox,  but  since  by  the  rulings  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey  the  use  of  a  descriptive  name  for  a  formation  was 
forbidden,  he  agreed  to  leave  to  Doctor  Hilgard,  who  had  years  before 
described  this  formation  the  selection  of  a  name  which  would  pass 
muster  at  headquarters.  After  a  conference  between  Hilgard,  Le- 
Conte,  Loughridge,  and  himself  at  Berkeley,  the  name  Lafayette  was 
selected,  the  type  locality  being  in  Lafayette  County,  Mississippi,  in 
the  eastern  part  of  which  the  most  characteristic  occurrences  of  the 
Red  Sand,  pebbles  and  other  beds,  are  to  be  found  overlying  the 
Eocene  everywhere,  capping  the  hill  tops,  and  unconforrnable  to  the 
Eocene  in  every  case. 

At  the  Lunch  Club  of  the  younger  members  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey  McGee  was  the  subject  of  a  good  deal  of  good-nat- 
ured chaffing  for  having  surrendered  his  name  Appomattox,  the  favor- 
ite quotation  being  "We've  met  the  enemy  and  we  are  their'n." 
Everybody  will  agree  that  Doctor  Hilgard  was  entitled  to  considera- 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  107 

tion  in  this  matter,  but  how  many  would  have  had  the  unselfishness 
to  do  the  right  thing  at  the  sacrifice  of  a  little  personal  credit. 

Another  incident  might  be  cited  as  showing  a  characteristic  of  the 
man.  A  few  months  before  his  death  I  invited  him  to  join  me  at 
Oxford,  Mississippi,  for  the  purpose  of  going  over  together  some  of  the 
exposures  of  the  Lafayette  in  that  county,  since  some  doubt  had  been 
thrown  upon  the  age  of  some  of  the  occurrences.  He  wrote  that  he 
would  be  very  glad  to  join  me  in  this  trip,  the  details  of  which  we  could 
arrange  a  little  later.  A  few  days  after  this  I  received  another  letter 
from  him  in  which  he  said  that  in  his  first  letter  he  had  not  perhaps 
been  sufficiently  frank  with  me,  since  he  was  suffering  from  some  in- 
ternal trouble  which  would  certainly  take  him  off  in  a  very  short 
time,  but  whether  in  a  few  weeks  or  a  few  months  he  could  not  say. 
I  think  he  died  within  a  month. 

Regarding  McGee's  work  on  the  Lafayette,  while  we  may  not  all 
agree  with  him  in  his  conclusions,  and  while  he  may  have  included  in 
his  monograph  some  things  that  were  not  Lafayette,  yet  I  think  all 
must  agree  that  this  treatise  on  the  Lafayette  in  the  Twelfth  Annual 
Report  of  the  Director  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  will 
always  remain  one  of  the  classics  of  our  Coastal  Plain  geology. 

From  Professor  J.  W.  Spencer,  of  Washington: 

His  mathematical  paper  relating  to  the  Glacial  Theory  was  that 
which  first  attracted  my  attention  to  Doctor  McGee.  His  early 
pages  on  the  "Forest  Beds"  and  the  geology  of  northeastern  Iowa 
opened  other  fields  to  me,  as  my  earlier  studies  had  been  in  the  region 
of  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  St.  Lawrence  River.  I  was  then  living  in 
the  west.  Our  friendship  began  at  the  time  of  a  visit  to  Washington 
in  1883. 

McGee's  laborious  investigations  in  Iowa  contributed  largely  to  the 
foundation  of  the  present  views  of  the  Glacial  history  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley,  and  of  America  generally.  However,  his  farthest-reach- 
ing researches  were  those  of  the  Coastal  Plain,  extending  all  the  way 
from  New  Jersey  to  Mexico,  and  covering  an  area  of  300,000  square 
miles.  The  same  features  have  since  been  observed  by  me  for  an- 
other thousand  miles  in  Mexico,  thus  extending  the  work  of  McGee. 


108  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

Outside  of  the  earlier  studies  of  Professors  E.  W.  Hilgard  and  E. 
A.  Smith,  in  the  Gulf  States,  very  little  was  known  of  these  wide-spread 
mechanical  deposits,  in  which  much  confusion  was  likely  to  arise. 
Many  writers  were  speculating  upon  the  Glacial  phenomena  of  the 
north,  while  few  were  interested  outside  of  their  own  limited  fields, 
much  less  caring  for  the  geology  of  the  south,  although  Professor  Dana 
had  been  interested  in  the  subject. 

McGee's  work  upon  the  coastal  plain  was  not  a  revision  with  even 
variations,  but  a  new  chapter  in  geology  as  great  as  the  area  covered. 
This  investigator  did  not  fail  to  appreciate  the  rights  of  others,  but 
consulted  with  them,  and  adopted  the  term  "Lafayette,"  which  had 
been  used  by  Hilgard. 

In  Doctor  McGee's  studies  of  the  soils,  the  same  originality  is  found 
in  an  old  but  unexplored  field.  The  last  time  I  heard  him  speak  was 
upon  the  subject  of  water  being  at  lower  levels  in  the  soil  than  before 
its  cultivation,  so  that  the  water-supply  in  soils  would  limit  the  density 
of  population. 

McGee's  labors  in  these  and  other  fields  show  that  he  had  no  su- 
perior among  his  contemporary  geologists,  and  some  of  his  achieve- 
ments were  monumental. 

To  me  it  was  a  source  of  regret  that  his  geological  researches  were 
restricted  by  his  diversion  to  anthropology,  although  this  branch 
added  to  his  versatility.  Yet  I  never  heard  him  express  himself  up- 
on this  point,  as  he  seldom  showed  his  feelings,  being  guarded  in  his 
speech. 

In  his  ethics,  he  had  regard  for  the  rights  of  others.  He  had  been 
an  independent  and  also  an  official  investigator,  realizing  the  difficul- 
ties of  both  classes.  He  was  tolerant  of  the  theoretical  views  differing 
from  his  own.  Seeing  the  necessity  of  promoting  independent  re- 
search, he  attended  the  organization  meeting  of  the  Geological  Society 
of  America,  which  Society  was  founded  for  that  purpose.  I  believe 
that  he  was  the  only  representative  of  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey  present.  It  was  under  his  editorship  that  the  Bulletin  as- 
sumed its  admirable  form.  So  also  he  avoided  the  introduction  of 
useless  controversies,  as  in  a  case  where  an  adverse  criticism  was 
appended  to  a  paper.  The  editor  sent  the  whole  proof  to  the  author, 
who  replied,  having  the  facts  and  logic  on  his  side.  This  led  the  critic 
to  withdraw  his  remarks,  as  did  the  author  his  reply. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY   OF   SCIENCES  109 

Another  side  of  his  character  should  not  be  overlooked,  his  grati- 
tude and  loyalty,  which  raises  his  character  as  high  as  his  scientific 
attainments.  I  was  informed  of  the  following  incident  only  after  his 
death.  The  names  will  be  omitted  unless  made  known  by  my  in- 
formant, who  conveyed  to  Doctor  McGee  the  offer  of  a  very  distin- 
guished position.  His  reply  was  "Oh,  how  I  should  like  to  accept  it. 
I  should  prefer  it  to  any  other  in  the  country,  but  I  can  not  take  it, 
for  the  old  man  (Major  Powell)  needs  me.  Yet  I  should  like  to  have 
it,  but  I  can  not  leave  the  Major."  By  way  of  explanation  it  should 
be  added  that  Major  Powell's  health  was  failing,  and  he  would  have 
been  compelled  to  retire,  if  McGee  had  abandoned  the  sinking  ship, 
although  it  meant  his  own  future  and  life.  Louis  Agassiz  was  once 
asked  what  his  greatest  work  had  been,  and  replied  that  it  had  been 
the  making  of  five  observers,  although  four  had  become  his  enemies. 
McGee  would  not  have  been  in  that  list. 

Here  may  also  be  stated  what  is  not  generally  known.  It  was 
McGee  who  suggested  to  Major  Powell  the  name  of  the  one  whom  he 
nominated  as  his  successor  in  the  Directorate  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey,  and  who  was  thereupon  appointed. 

From  Dr.  J.  J.  Stevenson,  of  New  York: 

During  a  visit  to  the  Survey  building  in  Washington,  about  thirty 
years  ago,  it  was  suggested  that  I  might  be  interested  in  the  outcome 
of  an  attempt  to  piece  together  the  recently  published  county  maps 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Geological  Survey.  That  outcome  was  not 
comforting  to  me,  as  a  former  member  of  that  organization,  but  I  was 
greatly  interested  in  the  sturdy  young  man  who  had  patched  together 
the,  as  my  guide  termed  it,  "crazy  quilt."  This  young  man  was 
W  J  McGee,  who  had  just  completed  at  his  own  expense  a  Pleistocene 
survey  of  northeastern  Iowa.  He  had  little  to  say  and  his  conver- 
sation gave  no  hint  of  that  fluency  of  speech  and  abundance  of  knowl- 
edge, which  in  later  years  were  so  painful  to  his  opponents  in  dis- 
cussion. What  he  did  say  was  pithy,  direct;  he  recognized  the 
bearing  of  every  question  and  gave  the  answer  without  waste  of 
words. 

During  frequent  visits  to  Washington  in  immediately  succeeding 
years,  I  met  McGee  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  about  a  certain  degree 


110  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

of  intimacy.  It  must  be  conceded  that  the  interviews  were  not  always 
as  comforting  as  I  had  hoped,  but  confession  must  be  made  that  they 
were  always  profitable.  He  seemed  to  have  read  almost  everything 
within  his  reach.  His  memory  was  unusually  retentive,  and  his  power 
of  assimilating  knowledge  was  surprising.  Some  men  have  a  great 
stock  of  information,  but  the  items  appear,  for  them,  to  have  no 
inter-relations — they  hang  around  the  walls  of  their  memory  like 
hams  in  a  meat-shop,  all  complete  but  wholly  disconnected. 

Not  so  with  McGee.  His  knowledge  was  arranged,  it  was  his  own, 
and  had  received  his  impress.  He  made  his  debut  as  an  authority 
on  questions  in  geology  at  a  meeting  of  the  American  Committee  on 
the  Geological  Congress  in  1888,  which  he  attended  as  representing 
Major  Powell.  At  that  meeting,  the  reports  of  the  several  subcom- 
mittees were  read,  beginning  with  that  on  the  oldest  rocks.  Each 
member  present  had  come  with  a  document  which  he  regarded  as 
typically  good.  McGee  discussed  most  of  the  reports  earnestly, 
courteously,  and  with  such  evident  accurate  knowledge  as  to  be 
discomforting  to  some  of  the  authors.  One,  who  had  suffered  most 
severely,  besought  me  to  build  a  levee  to  close  the  crevasse  and  to 
save  us  from  drowning.  All  were  convinced  that  McGee  would  be  a 
power  to  be  reckoned  with. 

Somewhat  later,  after  organization  of  the  Geological  Society,  I 
was  thrown  for  a  time  into  somewhat  closer  relations,  and  saw  the  man 
from  a  different  standpoint.  He  showed  peculiar  efficiency  as  an 
organizer;  he  knew  not  only  what  he  wished  to  do  or  to  have  done  by 
others,  but  also  how  it  should  be  done.  He  was  not  satisfied  with 
planning,  he  set  himself  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  plan.  One 
instance  out  of  many  suffices.  He  was  dissatisfied  with  methods  of 
publication  prevailing  in  scientific  societies.  At  an  early  meeting  of 
our  Society  a  committee  was  appointed  on  his  motion  to  consider  the 
matter.  He  prepared  an  elaborate  report,  accompanied  by  a  printed 
example.  The  form  was  approved,  and  he  was  chosen  Editor  with 
authority  to  enforce  the  rules — and  he  enforced  them.  It  is  quite 
possible  that  at  times  he  used  less  of  suamter  in  modo  and  morefortiter 
in  re  than  was  agreeable  to  authors,  who  felt  that  their  importance 
deserved  more  of  consideration ;  but  he  certainly  succeeded  in  bringing 
about  a  reformation.  Prior  to  his  installation,  authors  too  frequently 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  111 

paid  little  attention  to  the  form  of  their  manuscript,  and  the  burden 
of  rendering  it  clear  to  the  printer  was  left  to  the  editor,  who,  in  too 
many  cases,  was  compelled  also  to  rearrange  the  material.  Not  in- 
frequently, the  manuscript  was  in  such  shape  as  to  add  to  the  cost 
of  composition.  But  McGee  made  sharp  differentiation  between  the 
several  duties  of  the  society,  the  editor,  and  the  author;  and  his  sys- 
tem was  adopted  more  or  less  closely  by  many  other  societies.  After 
a  service  of  two  years,  when  the  precedents  had  become  firmly  estab- 
lished, he  retired  from  the  work,  with  high  reputation  as  a  dictator 
to  whom  the  geologists  were  greatly  indebted. 

McGee  was,  in  complete  sense  of  the  term,  a  self-made  man.  It  is 
very  certain  that  he  regarded  his  success  in  this  work  with  some 
degree  of  complacency,  which  occasionally  aroused  not  wholly  good- 
natured  criticism.  He  had  acquired  a  vast  stock  of  well-digested 
knowledge  and  had  added  greatly  to  the  world's  stock  of  new  knowl- 
edge; comparing  himself,  in  these  respects,  with  many  others  who  had 
enjoyed  the  advantages  of  scholastic  training  as  well  as  those  coming 
from  early  associations,  he  found  no  reason  for  shamef acedness.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  the  conditions  led  him  to  express  himself  in  debate,  at 
times,with  undue  positiveness  and  without  full  regard  to  his  opponents. 
But  no  one  of  us  need  be  in  haste  to  cast  stones  at  another.  We  are 
all  too  ready  to  forget  that  a  generous  Providence  has  endowed  us 
with  a  liberal  supply  of  defects  and  are  too  ready  to  denounce  the 
faults  which  we  see  in  others,  but  which,  thank  God,  do  not  exist  in  us. 
Yet  McGee  never  seemed  to  entertain  ill-will  against  any  on  his  own 
account;  I  never  heard  him  speak  disparagingly  of  other  geologists, 
though  he  did  not  hesitate  to  discuss  their  work.  He  always  seemed 
to  feel  that  the  world  is  large  enough  for  all. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  McGee's  memory  and  to  his  pride  as  a 
self-made  man.  He  recognized  that  he  was  a  strong  man,  and  that 
he  was  not  alone  in  that  recognition.  He  was  so  strong  that  he  saw 
no  discredit  in  acknowledging  indebtedness  to  those  who  had  helped 
him  up  the  ladder  when  he  was  struggling  at  the  foot.  He  was  not 
ashamed  to  be  grateful  and  was  ready  to  prove  gratitude  by  self- 
denial.  This  characteristic  was  proved  on  one  occasion,  to  which 
reference  may  be  made  here  as  both  principals  are  dead.  Prof.  James 
Hall,  who,  for  a  period  of  two  generations,  was  state  geologist  of 


112  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

New  York,  had  reached  the  age  when  his  physical  forces  were  yielding 
to  the  strain  at  Albany,  where  during  his  long  career  he  had  been 
amazingly  successful  in  antagonizing  state  officials  by  defeating  their 
efforts  against  him.  He  felt  that  it  would  be  well  for  him  and  for 
the  work  if  a  younger  man  could  be  put  in  charge  while  he  could 
still  control  the  appointment  of  a  successor.  Several  men  were  con- 
sidered and  at  length  he  decided  that,  if  McGee  would  take  the  place, 
he  would  retire  at  once. 

Within  a  few  days  later,  I  had  occasion  to  visit  Washington  and 
took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  lay  the  matter  before  McGee, 
then  connected  with  the  Bureau  of  Anthropology,  of  which  Major 
Powell  was  the  head.  He  was  assured  that  the  appointment  was 
certain,  if  he  desired  it;  he  knew  perfectly  well  the  conditions  and 
burdens  of  the  position;  they  were  such  as  appeal  to  an  aggressive 
self-confident  man.  After  the  matter  had  been  laid  before  him,  he 
was  asked  for  an  answer.  Tears  were  in  his  eyes  and  some  had  found 
their  way  to  his  cheek.  "That  is  what  I  have  wanted^what  I  have 
hoped  for;  but  I  can't  go;  the  Major  needs  me."  That  was  all;  the 
answer  was  final.  Major  Powell  had  become  unable  to  perform  the 
duties  of  his  office,  and  McGee  was  one  of  the  few  who  knew  it.  He 
was  doing  double  work,  the  Major's  and  his  own,  for  the  Major's  sake, 
because  years  before  Powell  had  recognized  the  young  man's  ability 
and  had  given  the  opportunity  to  prove  his  worth. 

McGee's  loyalty  to  his  friends  was  intense,  almost  a  weakness. 
He  seemed  little  capable  of  fighting  a  battle  for  himself  and  appeared 
practically  indifferent  to  attacks  upon  himself;  but  he  resented  with 
almost  hatred  what  be  believed  to  be  injustice  to  one  whom  he  knew 
to  be  his  friend.  In  such  cases  he  was  betrayed  into  a  harshness  of 
language  which  startled  those  who  knew  him  best.  But,  as  I  well 
know,  the  inherent  manliness  of  the  man  led  him  to  regret  such 
outbursts,  and  to  repent  in  sackcloth  and  ashes. 

It  would  be  impertinent  for  me  to  speak  about  the  scientific  worth 
of  McGee's  work,  as  for  the  most  part  it  concerns  portions  of  the 
geological  column  outside  of  my  restricted  area;  but  one  thing  is  cer- 
tain, he  saw  phenomena  clearly  and  recorded  his  observations  hon- 
estly, in  such  fashion  that,  if  he  had  made  errors  in  observation  or 
conclusion,  the  reviser  would  find  no  difficulty  in  discovering  them. 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  113 

I  have  had  occasion  to  study  very  closely  several  of  his  contributions, 
and  respect  for  his  method  increased  with  the  reading. 

I  would  lay  a  double  wreath  upon  his  tomb ;  one  to  the  friend  whom 
I  have  lost,  the  other  to  the  student  who  has  left  an  abiding  impression 
upon  several  branches  of  American  science. 

From  Professor  J.  E.  Todd,  of  the  University  of  Kansas. 

My  thought  goes  back  to  a  day  in  1878,  when  I  first  met  Doctor 
McGee  at  a  St.  Louis  meeting  of  the  American  Association.  We 
each  of  us  presented  our  first  papers  before  the  Geological  Section. 
We  were  both  from  Iowa.  He  had  a  retiring,  almost  bashful,  man- 
ner, and  I  took  pleasure  in  introducing  him  to  several  acquaintances 
whom  I  had  met  while  studying  in  the  east  a  few  years  before. 

In  1881,  while  spending  a  winter  at  Washington,  I  received  a  letter 
from  him  asking  me  to  make  some  inquiries  from  Major  Powell,  then 
Director  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  concerning  some 
formations  in  northeastern  Iowa.  During  our  interview,  Major 
Powell  volunteered  the  remark  that  he  considered  McGee  a  very 
promising  young  man.  This  I  naturally  repeated  to  McGee.  I  can 
not  doubt  that  that  remark  had  much  to  do  with  his  going  to  Wash- 
ington a  few  years  after  and  with  his  brilliant  career  there,  which  dis- 
tinguished him  over  all  the  world.  I  have  met  him  several  times  at 
various  scientific  meetings,  and  have  often  been  impressed  with  his 
native  ability,  his  quiet  confidence,  his  resourcefulness,  and  the 
uniform  success  which  rewarded  his  efforts. 

He  made  mistakes  and  made  enemies;  from  many  of  these  I 
have  often  thought  a  thorough  education  would  have  saved  him. 
He  deserved  great  credit  for  having  achieved  so  much  despite  the 
disadvantages  of  his  early  life.  Few  have  done  so  well.  I  have 
always  found  him  a  genial  companion  and  a  faithful  friend. 

From  Doctor  Thomas  Wayland  Vaughan,  chief,  section  of  Coastal 
Plain  investigations,  United  States  Geological  Survey: 

McGee's  most  important  geologic  contributions  were  those  he  made 
to  the  geology  of  the  Atlantic  and  eastern  Gulf  Coastal  Plain  while 
connected  with  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  which  he  joined 


114  McGEE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 

in  1883.  He  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Potomac  Division  of  geology 
in  1885  and  the  scope  of  the  territory  over  which  he  exercised  super- 
vision was  gradually  extended  until  in  1890  it  comprised  most  of  the 
Atlantic  Coastal  Plain  and  the  part  of  the  Gulf  Coastal  Plain  east  of 
Mississippi  River.  His  study  of  geologic  problems  was  commensurate 
with  the  limits  of  the  region,  and  in  his  publications  he  devotes  atten- 
tion to  it  throughout  its  extent  from  Cape  Cod  to  the  Mexican  border 
and  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  southern  Illinois. 

McGee  is  one  of  a  series  of  investigators  in  this  region,  and  should 
be  considered  in  relation  to  his  predecessors,  to  his  contemporaries, 
and  to  his  successors.  Among  his  predecessors  were  H.  D.  Rogers 
and  Cook  in  New  Jersey,  Tyson  in  Maryland,  W.  B.  Rogers  in  Vir- 
ginia, Emmons  and  Kerr  in  North  Carolina,  Tuomey  in  South  Caro- 
lina and  Alabama,  Hilgard  in  Mississippi,  Safford  in  Tennessee, 
Loughridge  in  Kentucky,  and  Hilgard  and  Hopkins  in  Louisiana. 
Besides  those  mentioned,  other  geologists,  prominent  among  whom 
were  Lyell  and  Conrad,  had  made  notable  contribution  to  the  geology 
of  the  Coastal  Plain.  Among  his  contemporaries  were  Salisbury  in 
New  Jersey;  Fontaine,  Ward,  Darton,  Kerr,  and  J.  A.  Holmes  in  the 
Middle  Atlantic  slope;  Smith,  Dall,  L.  C.  Johnson,  and  Langdon,  in 
the  eastern  Gulf  Coastal  Plain;  Hill  and  Call  in  Arkansas;  and  Hill 
and  Penrose  in  Texas.  The  contemporaneous  investigations  by  mem- 
bers of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  from  Maryland  south- 
ward to  the  Mississippi  River,  except  those  by  the  paleontologists  Fon- 
taine, Ward,  and  Dall,  were  under  his  supervision.  Excellent  as  was 
the  work  of  many  of  these  geologists,  among  whose  names  are  those 
of  men  of  great  distinction,  its  scope  was  mostly  areally  limited, 
and  the  attempt  had  scarcely  been  made  to  correlate  geologic  phe- 
nomena throughout  the  vast  extent  of  the  entire  region. 

There  was  in  all  of  McGee's  work  on  the  Coastal  Plain  a  dominant 
motive  to  which  a  large  part  of  his  influence  on  succeeding  investi- 
gations is  to  be  attributed.  This  motive  was  to  discover  the  genetic 
principles  underlying  the  geologic  phenomena  to  which  he  paid 
attention,  and  to  base  his  classifications  on  homogeny. 

He  gave  particular  consideration  to  physiology,  stratigraphy,  and 
physical  geologic  history.  In  treating  the  physiography,  besides  de- 
scribing the  relief  of  the  land  surface,  the  drainage  courses,  and  the 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY   OF   SCIENCES  115 

shore  lines,  he  made  an  attempt  to  ascribe  the  various  land  forms  and 
the  peculiarities  of  drainage  and  shore  line  to  the  causes  that  had 
produced  them.  These  lines  of  investigation  led  to  a  proposed  genetic 
classification  of  physiographic  features.  The  influence  of  Powell, 
Gilbert,  and  Chamberlin  is  acknowledged  in  this  phase  of  his  work. 
The  genetic  principle  was  also  fundamental  in  his  stratigraphic  work. 
He  was  not  satisfied  with  the  mere  description  of  stratigraphic  units 
and  physically  tracing  them  as  far  as  possible,  but  he  also  tried  to 
reconstruct  the  conditions  under  which  sedimentation  took  place, 
and  to  ascertain  the  source  whence  the  sediments  came.  He  was  led 
to  study  the  record  of  sedimentation  with  reference  to  the  degrada- 
tion of  adjacent  land  masses  and  to  consider  the  diastrophic  move- 
ments whereby  the  limits  of  areas  of  sedimentation  and  degradation 
are  reciprocally  shifted.  He  developed  the  principle  of  homogeny 
as  a  basis  for  geologic  correlation  and  applied  it  extensively.  He 
endeavored  to  write  geologic  history  in  terms  of  diastrophism,  sedi- 
mentation, and  degradation,  his  aim  being  to  reconstruct  the  physical 
history  of  the  Coastal  Plain. 

McGee  is  largely  known  to  geologists  because  of  the  attention  he 
paid  to  those  Coastal  Plain  formations  in  which  marine  fossils  are 
not  known.  He  proposed  the  name  Potomac  formation  for  the  non- 
marine  Lower  Cretaceous  sediments  of  Virginia  and  Maryland;  he 
gave  the  name  "Appomattox"  formation  to  certain  gravels  and 
loams  unconformably  overlying  the  Miocene,  and  unconformably 
overlain  by  geologically  later  deposits  of  Pleistocene  age  in  Virginia; 
and  he  applied  the  name  Columbia  formation  to  extensive  terrace 
deposits  along  rivers  or  facing  the  coast  and  to  sands  or  loams  on 
divides. 

He  attempted,  in  his  consideration  of  the  Potomac  formation,  which 
has  subsequently  been  subdivided  into  four  formations,  to  recon- 
struct the  geologic  history  antecedent  to  its  deposition  and  the  phys- 
ical conditions  under  which  its  deposition  took  place.  According 
to  him,  the  deposition  of  the  "  Appomattox"  (for  which  the  subse- 
quently proposed  name  Lafayette  of  Hilgard  was  substituted  in  1891) 
took  place  during  a  period  of  regional  depression  which  lowered  the 
land  in  amounts  ranging  from  100  to  1,000  feet  below  its  present 
altitude.  The  depression,  which  was  accompanied  by  crustal  warp- 


116  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

ing,  was  followed  by  uplift  and  subaerial  erosion.  The  post-Lafayette 
uplift  and  erosion  was  succeeded  by  subsidence,  which,  although  not 
so  great  in  amount  as  the  preceding  Lafayette  subsidence,  was  like- 
wise accompanied  by  differential  crustal  movement.  Three  phases 
of  the  Columbia  formation,  the  fluvial,  interfluvial,  and  low-level, 
were  recognized. 

McGee's  work  on  the  Lafayette  was  preceded  by  Hilgard's  on  the 
"Orange  Sand"  of  Mississippi,  and  the  concept  underlying  the  treat- 
ment by  each  author  was  to  a  considerable  degree  similar.  Numerous 
observations  previous  to  his  own  had  also  been  made  on  both  fluvial 
and  coastal  Pleistocene  phenomena.  Since  McGee's  publications  on 
the  "Appomattox"  or  Lafayette  and  the  Columbia  formations  ap- 
peared, the  late  Tertiary  and  Pleistocene  geology  of  the  Coastal  Plain 
had  been  studied  in  every  coastal  state  from  New  York  to  the  Mexican 
border  and  throughout  the  Mississippi  Embayment.  The  investiga- 
tions are  still  in  progress  and  their  end  is  not  yet  in  sight.  As  might 
have  been  expected,  many  of  McGee's  conclusions  have  already  been 
greatly  changed  and  it  is  evident  that  still  further  modifications  are 
necessary,  but  notwithstanding  these  changes  in  interpretation  the 
value  of  his  influence  on  the  progress  of  these  researches  has  been  so 
great  that  to  overestimate  it  would  be  difficult.  By  calling  attention 
to  the  similarity  of  phenomena  throughout  the  area  of  the  Coastal 
Plain,  by  his  attempt  to  treat  these  phenomena  in  a  comprehensive 
and  connected  way,  by  his  proposing  a  valuable  working  hypothesis, 
and  by  his  attempts  to  correlate  the  fluvial  and  coastal  terraces  of 
the  non-glaciated  areas  of  the  south  with  phenomena  in  the  glaciated 
areas  of  the  north,  he  has  greatly  contributed  to  the  advancement  of 
geologic  research. 

McGee's  efforts  were  not  confined  to  elucidating  the  geologic  his- 
tory revealed  by  those  formations  mentioned,  for  he  endeavored  to 
trace  in  the  Coastal  Plain  all  the  different  geologic  formations  or 
their  stratigraphic  equivalents  throughout  their  extent,  to  interpret 
conditions  of  sedimentation,  to  ascertain  the  source  of  the  sediments, 
and  to  correlate  the  record  of  sedimentation  with  that  of  the  degrada- 
tion of  adjacent  land  masses.  By  aid  of  the  information  procured 
from  these  different  lines  of  inquiry,  he  endeavored  to  reconstruct  the 
geologic  history  of  the  Coastal  Plain  region  from  the  end  of  the  long 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  117 

period  of  uplift  preceding  the  subsidence  initiating  the  Lower  Cre- 
taceous to  Recent  time.  He  recognized  that  the  aim  of  historical 
geology  is  to  present  a  consecutive  coordinate  account  of  the  history 
of  the  earth,  and  that  geologic  progress  demanded  an  attempt  to  pre- 
sent such  an  account.  McGee  made  it,  and  he  did  well,  especially 
well  .when  the  meagerness  of  information  twenty  years  or  more  ago 
is  borne  in  mind. 

No  estimate  of  McGee's  contributions  to  Coastal  Plain  geology 
would  be  adequate  without  considering  his  personality.  It  was  my 
good  fortune  to  make  his  acquaintance  shortly  after  I  joined  the  staff 
of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  in  1894;  our  relations  soon 
became  friendly  and  so  continued  until  his  death.  As  I  was  his  suc- 
cessor in  having  under  my  direction  the  geologic  studies  in  the  terri- 
tory over  which  he  previously  had  supervision,  it  was  natural  that  I 
should  discuss  with  him  problems  of  Coastal  Plain  geology.  Two 
characteristics  of  McGee  were  impressive.  One  was  an  utter  absence 
of  personal  bias  in  considering  his  own  previous  work.  He  neither 
belittled  nor  defended  it.  He  once  said  to  me  "Each  succeeding 
generation  has  its  own  problems,"  intimating  that  he  had  done  his 
work  and  had  left  the  continuance  of  the  investigations  to  those  who 
were  following  him.  This  was  not  due  to  apathy  but  to  the  clear 
recognition  of  the  principles  underlying  scientific  advance,  for  he  was 
interested  in  the  progress  of  the  researches,  and  discussed  problems  in 
the  most  open-minded  way.  The  other  characteristic  was  his  ever- 
ready  helpfulness.  An  instance  of  both  of  the  characteristics  com- 
bined in  one  act  may  be  given:  In  1910,  E.  W.  Berry  found  Wilcox 
Eocene  fossil  plants  at  Oxford,  Mississippi,  in  material  cited  as  typi- 
cal of  the  "Orange  Sand"  by  Hilgard,  and  considered  typical  Lafay- 
ette by  McGee.  As  in  the  literature  there  was  vagueness  regarding 
the  type  locality  of  the  formation,  I  reported  the  results  of  Berry's 
investigations  to  McGee,  and  requested  a  statement  from  him.  A 
copy  of  his  reply,  written  with  the  intention  that  it  be  published, 
may  be  found  in  the  Journal  of  Geology,  vol.  19,  p.  251.  The  quality 
of  this  act  is  evident. 

The  geologic  work  on  the  Coastal  Plain  antecedent  to  McGee  was 
detached  and  areally  limited,  although  it  had  engaged  the  attention 
of  a  number  of  geologists  of  a  high  order  of  ability.  He  was  the  first 


118  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

to  treat  the  region  as  a  unit  and  to  present  its  geologic  history  con- 
secutively from  basal  Cretaceous  to  Recent  time.  Although  he  was 
constructive  to  a  high  degree,  the  data  he  used  were  not  adequate 
for  a  finished  product.  Subsequently,  additional  information  has  been 
acquired,  and  his  interpretations  have  been  greatly  modified,  but  the 
goal  of  geologic  investigation,  as  he  recognized  it,  his  own  high  ideal 
of  research,  and  the  example  of  his  open-minded  generous  character 
remain  unchanged,  and  persist  to  guide  his  followers  in  the  field  in 
which  he  labored  so  effectively. 

From  Doctor  I.  C.  White,  State  Geologist  of  West  Virginia: 

The  writer's  personal  acquaintance  with  Doctor  W  J  McGee  be- 
gan when  the  latter  was  so  intimately  connected  with  the  late  Doctor 
J.  W.  Powell,  Director  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey.  It 
was  also  his  good  fortune  to  be  associated  with  Doctor  McGee  on  an 
important  committee  of  the  Geological  Society  of  America,  appointed 
at  the  first  regular  meeting  of  that  body  in  Ithaca,  New  York,  Decem- 
ber 27,  1888.  To  this  Advisory  Committee  on  Publications,  consist- 
ing of  Joseph  LeConte,  W  J  McGee,  N.  H.  W'inchell,  I.  C.  White, 
and  W.  M.  Davis,  was  referred  the  very  important  subject  of  mapping 
out  plans  and  rules  to  govern  the  publications  of  the  newly  organized 
Society.  The  committee  elected  Dr.  McGee  Secretary,  and  he  made 
such  an  exhaustive  study  of  the  publication  methods  of  all  other  exist- 
ing scientific  societies,  culling  from  them  whatever  features  seemed 
desirable  and  adding  new  ones  from  his  own  fertile  brain,  that  when 
the  Committee  met  there  was  but  little  for  the  other  members  to  do 
except  to  approve  the  work  of  its  talented  Secretary.  The  admirable 
publication  plan  reported  by  Doctor  McGee  at  the  Toronto  meeting 
of  the  Society,  August  28,  1889,  was  adopted  almost  verbatim  by  the 
Council,  and  the  wisdom  and  forethought  of  its  principal  author  is 
sufficiently  attested  by  the  20  odd  splendid  volumes  already  issued 
which  place  the  publications  of  the  Geological  Society  of  America 
fully  abreast  of  those  produced  by  any  other  similar  organization  in 
the  world.  It  was  during  the  several  meetings  of  this  Committee 
that  the  writer  realized  the  wonderful  breadth  of  comprehension  and 
fullness  of  knowledge  with  which  Doctor  McGee's  master  mind  was  so 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES  119 

richly  endowed.  This  many-sided  culture  and  apparently  boundless 
knowledge  acquired  through  a  life  of  toil,  often  for  the  daily  necessi- 
ties of  existence,  are  all  the  more  remarkable  when  it  is  considered 
that  their  possessor  never  enjoyed  collegiate  advantages  and  that  he 
was  really  self  educated. 

The  writer  occupied  a  seat  at  Doctor  McGee's  table  in  the  dining 
room  of  the  Cosmos  Club  for  two  or  three  days  only  a  few  weeks 
before  the  fatal  termination  of  the  malady  from  which  he  was  suf- 
fering, and  there  learned  from  him  the  nature  of  his  illness.  His 
clear  and  calm  analysis  of  the  incurable  disease  which  was  rapidly 
sapping  his  vitality;  his  cheerful  frame  of  mind  while  he  stood  almost 
in  the  shadow  of  the  last  enemy;  and  his  determination  to  fight  off 
as  long  as  possible  the  inevitable  day  which  none  knew  better  than  he 
was  near  at  hand,  all  conspired  to  add  a  new  chaplet  to  the  laurels  of 
a  deathless  fame,  won  by  his  own  untiring  efforts  during  a  vigorous 
and  busy  life. 

From  Doctor  Harvey  W.  Wiley,  of  Washington: 

My  acquaintance  with  Doctor  McGee  was  of  long  duration.  I 
met  him  nearly  thirty  years  ago,  and  during  this  long  period  my 
admiration  and  regard  for  him  increased.  His  was  a  wholesome  in- 
fluence, manly  and  lasting.  I  knew  Doctor  McGee  better  as  a  man 
than  a  scientist.  Our  specialties  were  far  apart,  but  our  human  sym- 
pathies close  together.  He  was  scientifically  interested  in  man,  dead 
and  living.  I  was  working  more  for  man,  present  and  to  come.  But 
our  two  fields  covered  all  time. 

Doctor  McGee  was  wholly  unselfish.  A  little  incident  shows  his 
readiness  to  serve  in  any  and  all  circumstances.  We  both  attended 
the  meeting  of  the  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  in 
Toronto  several  years  ago.  Lord  and  Lady  Dufferin  gave  a  recep- 
tion to  the  Association  in  the  Parliament  House.  Doctor  McGee  and 
I  went  together.  After  paying  our  respects  to  the  Governor  Gen- 
eral and  Lady  Dufferin,  we  took  our  places  at  the  side  of  the  large  audi- 
ence room  to  watch  the  brilliant  spectacle.  After  the  reception  a 
clergyman  came  up  to  us  and  said  to  me,  "I  beg  your  pardon,  but  I 
assume  you  are  one  of  the  visiting  scientists,  and  I  am  anxious  to 


120  McGEE   MEMORIAL  MEETING 

have  you  fill  my  pulpit  on  Sunday  evening.  The  clergymen  generally 
are  making  similar  requests."  At  that  time  I  had  not  had  any  ex- 
perience in  "filling  pulpits"  and  so  excused  myself — "but"  I  said, 
"my  friend  here,  Doctor  McGee,  can  preach  almost  as  well  as  any 
minister."  Doctor  McGee  came  to  my  rescue  and  accepted  the  in- 
vitation. I  am  certain  no  better  sermon  was  preached  in  Toronto 
that  Sunday  night  than  his. 

The  poignant  grief  his  early  death  brought  to  his  scientific  friends 
in  Washington  was  not  of  a  fleeting  nature.  We  shall  remember  him 
with  love,  and  think  of  him  with  regret,  while  memory  lasts.  I  am 
glad  to  add  this  mite  to  the  treasures  of  this  memorial  volume. 

From  Professor  Henry  S.  Williams,  of  Cornell  University: 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  take  a  little  part  in  commemorating  the  life 
of  our  friend  McGee. 

His  genial,  optimistic,  energetic  personality  will  be  recalled  by  all 
who  knew  him  in  the  early  active  days  when  he  was  right-hand  man 
for  Major  Powell  in  Washington,  and  doing  his  own  part  in  Geological 
Survey  work. 

I  saw  considerable  of  him  on  committees  concerning  the  Interna- 
tional Congress  of  Geologists,  and  in  preparing  for  the  Washington 
Congress — also  in  the  early  days  of  the  Geological  Society,  and  in  the 
debates  in  meetings  of  the  American  Association  whenever  the  age 
of  relics  of  man  in  geological  formations  were  at  the  front.  He  was  a 
positive  man,  ready  to  speak  on  his  side  of  the  question,  and  always 
enthusiastic.  My  special  field  of  geology  gradually  led  me  into  groups 
in  which  he  was  less  often  present,  and  I  rarely  met  him  in  the  latter 
days  except  at  the  Cosmos  Club  in  Washington. 

I  am  sure  he  did  much  to  advance  the  science  of  Geology  which  his 
writing  will  perpetuate,  but  my  memory  recalls  more  strongly  the 
open,  warm-hearted  kindly  friend  we  knew  as  McGee. 

From  Richard  W.  Young,  of  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah: 

My  acquaintance  with  Doctor  McGee  extended  over  a  period  of 
six  or  seven  years — a  privilege  that  came  to  me  through  my  connection 
with  the  National,  now  the  International,  Irrigation  Congress.  For 


WASHINGTON  ACADEMY  OF   SCIENCES 

numbers  of  years  past,  Doctor  McGee,  by  consensus  of  opinion,  has 
been  the  most  indispensable  factor  in  the  growth  and  usefulness  of 
that  influential  organization.    To  his  far-seeing  and  analytical  mind 
were  due,  almost  entirely,  the  reorganization  of  the  Congress,  through 
which  its  activities  were  extended  throughout  the  interval  between 
sessions,  and  through  which  its  direction  was  conferred  upon  a  small 
representative,  and  effective  Board  of  Governors;  and  to  his  practical 
and  scientific  insight  was  to  be  attributed  the  fact  that  the  programs 
of  the  Congress  came  to  be  of  great  practical  worth  and  benefit  to  the 
irrigator     At  the  request  of  his- co-laborers,  he  read  many  papers  and 
delivered  many  addresses  before  the  Congress,  all  of  the  greatest  prac- 
tical and  technical  value.    There  was  no  man  upon  whom  the  Irriga- 
tion Congress  leaned  so  heavily.    No  man  has  ever  been  identified 
with  that  organization,  whose  loss  is  proving  or  could  prove 
serious  to  its  welfare. 

We  of  the  Congress,  loved  Doctor  McGee  for  his  unf aikng  courtesy, 
appreciation,  and  solicitude —our  sorrow  is  not  merely  official,  it 

deeply  personal . 

On  the  occasion  of  his  visit  to  Salt  Lake  City  in  February,  1   12, 
he  informed  me  of  his  serious  illness  and  in  reply  to  my  expressed  de- 
sire to  see  him  at  the  session  to  be  held  in  the  following  October,  r 
informed  me  that  he  should  not  be  present,  adding  that  he  had  but  six 
or  seven  months  longer  to  live.    I  told  him  that  I  was  shocked  at  hi 
statement  and  that  surely  there  must  be  some  mistake, 
that  there  could  be  no  mistake;  that  he  had  consulted  the  most  skill- 
ful surgeons  and  was  but  reflecting  their  experienced  judgment, 
last  saw  him  in  Washington  in  the  summer,  only  a  few  weeks  before 
his  demise.    He  was,  as  ever,  patient,  solicitous  of  the  welfare  of  the 
Congress,  and  keenly  alive  to  the  problems  of  the  day. 


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